Channel occupancy time (cot) structure in new radio (nr) systems operating on unlicensed spectrum

ABSTRACT

Some embodiments of this disclosure include systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer-readable media for use in a wireless network for generating and using slot format indicator (SFI) and channel occupancy time (COT) structure in new radio (NR) systems operating on unlicensed spectrum. For example, some embodiments are directed to a base station that includes radio front end circuitry and processor circuitry. The processor circuitry can be configured to generate a slot format indicator (SFI) associated with a channel occupancy time (COT) structure. The SFI indicates whether one or more slots associated with the COT structure are to be used for downlink (DL) symbols, uplink (UL) symbols, or flexible symbols. The flexible symbols form one or more gaps in the COT structure in response to the flexible symbols not being overridden as a DL transmission or a UL transmission. The processor circuitry can further be configured to transmit the SFI to a user equipment (UE).

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/805,267, filed Feb. 13, 2019, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

Various embodiments generally may relate to the field of wirelesscommunications.

SUMMARY

Some embodiments of this disclosure include systems, apparatuses,methods, and computer-readable media for use in a wireless network forgenerating and using slot format indicator (SFI) and channel occupancytime (COT) structure in new radio (NR) systems operating on unlicensedspectrum.

Some embodiments are directed to a base station. The base stationincludes radio front end circuitry and processor circuitry coupled tothe radio front end circuitry. The processor circuitry can be configuredto generate a slot format indicator (SFI) associated with a channeloccupancy time (COT) structure. The SFI indicates whether one or moreslots associated with the COT structure are to be used for downlink (DL)symbols, uplink (UL) symbols, or flexible symbols. The flexible symbolsform one or more gaps in the COT structure in response to the flexiblesymbols not being overridden as a DL transmission or a UL transmission.The processor circuitry can further be configured to transmit, using theradio front end circuitry, the SFI to a user equipment (UE) fortransmitting of the UL symbols or receiving of the DL symbols betweenthe base station and UE.

Some embodiments are directed to a method. The method includesgenerating, by a base station, a slot format indicator (SFI) associatedwith a channel occupancy time (COT) structure. The SFI indicates whetherone or more slots associated with the COT structure are to be used fordownlink (DL) symbols, uplink (UL) symbols, or flexible symbols. Theflexible symbols form one or more gaps in the COT structure in responseto the flexible symbols not being overridden as a DL transmission or aUL transmission. The method can further include transmitting, by thebase station, the SFI to a user equipment (UE) for transmitting of theUL symbols or receiving of the DL symbols between the base station andUE.

Some embodiments are directed to a base station. The base station caninclude a memory configured to store program instructions and aprocessor. The processor, upon executing the program instructions, canbe configured to generate a slot format indicator (SFI) associated witha channel occupancy time (COT) structure. The SFI indicates whether oneor more slots associated with the COT structure are to be used fordownlink (DL) symbols, uplink (UL) symbols, or flexible symbols. Theflexible symbols form one or more gaps in the COT structure in responseto the flexible symbols not being overridden as a DL transmission or aUL transmission. A duration of the one or more gaps is counted toward aduration of the COT structure in response the duration of the one ormore gaps being less than or equal to a threshold. The duration of theone or more gaps is not counted toward the duration of the COT structurein response to the duration of the one or more gaps being greater thanthe threshold. The processor can be further configured to transmit theSFI to a user equipment (UE) for transmitting of the UL symbols orreceiving of the DL symbols between the base station and UE.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary Slot Format Indicator (SFI) and ChannelOccupancy Time (COT) structure, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary Channel Occupancy Time (COT) structure, inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary common COT duration over multiple subbands(SB), in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary independent COT duration over multiplesubbands (SB), in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)transmission using category 2 (CAT-2) and category 4 (CAT-4), inaccording with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 depicts an architecture of a system of a network, in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 7 depicts an architecture of a system including a first corenetwork, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8 depicts an architecture of a system including a second corenetwork in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 9 depicts an example of infrastructure equipment, in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 10 depicts example components of a computer platform, in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 11 depicts example components of baseband circuitry and radiofrequency circuitry, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 12 is an illustration of various protocol functions that may beused for various protocol stacks, in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 13 illustrates components of a core network, in accordance withvarious embodiments.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating components of a system tosupport NFV, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 15 depicts a block diagram illustrating components, according tosome example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein.

FIG. 16 depicts an example flowchart for practicing the variousembodiments discussed herein, for example, for generating and using slotformat indicator (SFI) and channel occupancy time (COT) structure in newradio (NR) systems operating on unlicensed spectrum.

The features and advantages of the embodiments will become more apparentfrom the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunctionwith the drawings, in which like reference characters identifycorresponding elements throughout. In the drawings, like referencenumbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/orstructurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element firstappears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the correspondingreference number.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identifythe same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposesof explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth suchas particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects ofvarious embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the variousaspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examplesthat depart from these specific details. In certain instances,descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted soas not to obscure the description of the various embodiments withunnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrase“A or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B).

Each year, the number of mobile devices connected to wireless networkssignificantly increases. In order to keep up with the demand in mobiledata traffic, necessary changes have to be systematically made to thesystem requirements. Three critical areas that need to be enhanced inorder to deliver this increase in traffic are larger bandwidth, lowerlatency, and higher data rates.

One of the major limiting factors in wireless innovation is theavailability in spectrum. To mitigate this, the unlicensed spectrum hasbeen an area of interest to expand further the performance, and scope ofLong-Term Evolution (LTE). In this context, one of the major enhancementfor LTE in 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 13 was toenable its operation in the unlicensed spectrum via Licensed-AssistedAccess (LAA), which expands the system bandwidth by utilizing theflexible carrier aggregation (CA) framework introduced by theLTE-Advanced system.

Now that the main building blocks for the framework of new radio (NR)have been established, a natural enhancement is to allow this to alsooperate on unlicensed spectrum, namely NR-U. Among others, someexemplary objectives of shared/unlicensed spectrum in 5G NR are asfollows:

-   -   Physical layer aspects including [Radio Access Network (RAN1)]:        -   Frame structure including single and multiple downlink (DL)            to uplink (UL) and UL to DL switching points within a shared            channel occupancy time (COT) with associated identified            listen before talk (LBT) requirements.        -   Wide band operation (in integer multiples of 20 MHz) for DL            and UL for NR-U supported with multiple serving cells, and            wideband operation (in integer multiples of 20 MHz) for DL            and UL for NR-U supported with one serving cell with            bandwidth >20 MHz with potential scheduling constraint            subject to input from RAN2 and RAN4 on feasibility of            operating the wideband carrier when LBT is unsuccessful in            one or more LBT subbands within the wideband carrier. For            all wide-band operation cases, CCA is performed in units of            20 MHz (at least for 5 GHz).    -   Physical layer procedure(s) including [RAN1, RAN2]:        -   For load-based equipment (LBE), channel access mechanism in            line with agreements from the NR-U study item (for example,            TR 38.889, Section 7.2.1.3.1).

According to some examples, one of the challenges of NR-U is that thissystem must maintain fair coexistence with other incumbent technologies,and in order to do so depending on the particular band in which it mightoperate some regulatory restrictions might be taken into account whendesigning this system. For instance, if operating in the 5 GHz band, alisten before talk (LBT) procedure needs to be performed in some partsof the world to acquire the medium before a transmission can occur.

When operating the NR system on an unlicensed spectrum, beforeinitiating any transmission the LBT procedure should be performed. InRel-13 and Rel-14, the LBT priority classes, LBT parameters, and maximumCOT (MCOT) values provided in Table I for DL and Table II for UL wereagreed.

TABLE I LBT parameters and MCOT values for DL LBT Priority Class n CWminCWmax MCOT Set of CW sizes Number 1 1 3 7 2 ms {3, 7}  0, 1 2 1 7 15 3ms {7, 15} 0, 2 3 3 15 63 8 or 10 ms {15, 31, 63} 0, 1, 2 4 7 15 1023 8or 10 ms {15, 31, 63, 127, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 255, 511, 1023} 0, 1, 2 ChannelAccess Priority Class (p)

TABLE II LBT parameters and MCOT values for UL LBT priority Set of classn CWmin CWmax MCOT CW sizes 1 2 3 7 2 ms {3, 7} 2 2 7 15 4 ms {7, 15} 33 15 1023 6 ms (see note {15, 31, 63, 1) or 10 ms 127, 255, (see note 2)511, 1023} 4 7 15 1023 6 ms (see note {15, 31, 63, 1) or 10 ms 127, 255,(see note 2) 511, 1023} NOTE 1: The MCOT of 6 ms may be increased to 8ms by inserting one or more gaps. The minimum duration of a pause shallbe 100 μs. The maximum duration (Channel Occupancy) before including anysuch gap shall be 6 ms. The gap duration is not included in the channeloccupancy time. NOTE 2: If the absence of any other technology sharingthe carrier can be guaranteed on a long term basis (e.g. by level ofregulation), the maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) for LBT priorityclasses 3 and 4 is for 10 ms, otherwise, the MCOT for LBT priorityclasses 3 and 4 is 6 ms as in note 1.

In legacy Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), at most one DL to UL switchingpoint within the evolved NodeB (eNB)'s acquired channel occupancy time(COT), and only one UL to DL switching point within AUL UE's acquiredCOT is allowed. However, in NR-U, multiple DL to UL and UL to DLswitching points may be supported within a shared COT. Further, theinterference levels in different subbands in wideband operation can bedifferent, therefore channel occupation status in different subbands canbe different. Furthermore, the power consumption in multi-subbandoperation is also an issue. In order to overcome the above problematics,this disclosure provides examples on the design of time/frequency domainstructure of the COT.

According to some embodiments, when operating a cellular system on anunlicensed spectrum, a Next Generation NodeB (gNB) effectively indicatesslot format indicator (SFI) of a COT with multiple DL/UL and UL/DLswitching points and also indicates the gap(s) between DL and ULtransmissions. The gNB acquired COT can be used to increase DiscoveryReference Signal (DRS) transmission opportunities. For NR-U operationwith multiple subbands, a subband (SB) can be added to or removed from aCOT in a UL/DL switching point in the COT. Further, concept anchorsubband(s) can be used to mitigate inter-SB interference and achievepower saving.

Time Domain COT Structure

In Release 15 (Rel-15) New Radio (NR), the slot format indicator (SFI)is indicated by (Downlink Control Information) DCI 2_0. The symbols in aslot can be indicated as ‘D’ for downlink symbol, ‘F’ for flexiblesymbol or ‘U’ for uplink symbol. If SFI indicates a symbol as ‘F’, suchsymbol cannot be used for high layer configured DL transmission or ULtransmission. However, ‘F’ symbols can be overridden by dynamic DLassignment or UL grant. If an ‘F’ symbol is not overridden, a userequipment (UE) cannot assume any transmission or reception in the ‘F’symbol. According to some embodiments, in NR-U operation, based upon theregulatory requirements dictated by the European TelecommunicationsStandards Institute (ETSI) Broadband Radio Access Network (BRAN), a gapcan be generated between DL transmission and UL transmission. In someexamples, if the gap is no more than 25 us, it is counted as a part ofthe COT. Otherwise, it is not considered as part of COT.

According to some embodiments, 4 types of symbols exists within a periodfrom the start of a COT to the end of the COT. That is, DL symbol for DLtransmission, UL symbol for UL transmission, flexible symbol, which canbe overridden as DL or UL, and a symbol, which is to create a gap. Inorder to account for the last type of symbols, one example is tointroduce a 4^(th) state within the SFI in addition to D/F/U. However,this can result in a complicated design of the slot pattern for SFI.Therefore, a method can be introduced that is a function of above 4types of symbols, which allows to simply reinterpret the existing SFIindications.

In one embodiment, a symbol indicated as ‘D’ in SFI is for DLtransmission and cannot be overridden. A symbol indicated as ‘U’ in SFIis for UL transmission and cannot be overridden. The symbols indicatedas ‘F’ in SFI forms one or more gaps if the ‘F’ symbol(s) is/are notoverridden as DL or UL transmission. According to some embodiments, thereal usage of ‘F’ symbol, DL or UL or gap, can be transparent to a UE,but it is anyway under gNB control. An ‘F’ symbols overridden as DL orUL transmission is still counted toward the duration of the total COT,while all other ‘F’ symbols reinterpreted as gaps (larger than 25 us),are not counted toward the duration of the total COT. Therefore, gNB canmanage the length of the COT, which does not exceed the MCOT defined inthe regulations (either MCOT values provided in Table I and II, or a maxof 20 ms including gaps). FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary Slot FormatIndicator (SFI) and Channel Occupancy Time (COT) structure 100,according to some embodiments. For example, within the COT structure 100as shown in FIG. 1,

-   -   The first set of consecutive ‘F’ symbols are fully used as DL        and UL, and there is only a gap <=25 us (for example, gap 102),        and such a gap is counted toward the total duration of the COT.        In this case, all consecutive ‘F’ symbols are counted toward the        total duration of the COT.    -   For the second set of consecutive ‘F’ symbols, there are symbols        partially used as DL and UL, while remaining ‘F’ symbols form a        gap >25 us (for example, gap 104), and therefore such gap is not        counted toward the total duration of the COT. In this case, only        ‘F’ symbols which are overridden as DL or UL transmission are        counted toward the total duration of the COT.    -   The third set of consecutive ‘F’ symbols is long and contains 2        full ‘F’ slots which are used to create a gap (for example, gap        106). Again, such gap is not counted toward the total duration        of the COT, and only ‘F’ symbols overridden as DL or UL        transmission are counted in COT.    -   The fourth set of consecutive ‘F’ symbols is at the end of        indicated SFI (for example, gap 108). If gNB does not schedule        any DL or UL transmission, such ‘F’ symbols are not counted        toward the total duration of COT. If there is no DL or UL        transmission in such ‘F’ symbols, it does not matter on whether        a gap should be defined or not on such set of ‘F’ symbols.

In one embodiment, a symbols indicated as ‘D’ or ‘U’ in SFI is alwayscounted toward the total duration of COT. Alternatively, a symbolindicated as ‘D’ or ‘U’ in SFI is only counted toward the total durationof COT when gNB actually schedules DL or UL transmission on such symbol.This allows gNB to fine control the duration of a COT.

According to some embodiments, in NR-U, configured grant (CG) basedPhysical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) is a way to achieve better uplinkperformances, by limiting the contention steps before the actualtransmission can occur. Within a COT, whether CG PUSCH transmission isallowed in the shared uplink resource can be controlled by (DownlinkControl Information) DCI 2_0. In one embodiment, if allowed byindication in DCI 2_0, the shared uplink resource can be also used forCG transmission. In another embodiment, if allowed by indication in DCI2_0, only the resources allowed by higher layer, e.g., by a bitmap, canbe used. In another embodiment, outside a COT, CG PUSCH transmission isallowed on high layer configured slots, e.g., by a bitmap. A value ‘1’in the bitmap can indicate one or multiple consecutive slots areapplicable for CG PUSCH, while ‘0’ indicate that these resources cannotbe used for this purpose, or vice versa.

In one embodiment, CG PUSCH is allowed in a slot only when all symbolsare indicated as ‘F’ in SFI. For example, in FIG. 1, only the full slotof ‘F’ symbols in third and fourth set of ‘F’ symbols can be used by CGPUSCH subjected to LBT. In one embodiment, CG PUSCH is allowed in a slotonly when all symbols are indicated as ‘F’ in SFI subjected to LBT, andthey are configured to be available for CG PUSCH trough higher layersignaling, e.g., by bitmap.

In one embodiment, CG PUSCH is allowed in time resource indicated as ‘F’symbols in SFI. In one embodiment, a CG PUSCH is allowed in timeresources if jointly they are marked as ‘F’, and they are configured tobe available for CG PUSCH through higher layer signaling, e.g., bybitmap. For example, if all symbols overlapped with a CG PUSCH areindicated as ‘F’ symbols in a slot, CG PUSCH can be transmittedsubjected to LBT. Category 4 (CAT-4) LBT can be used.

In one embodiment, if COT sharing is allowed for CG PUSCH, CG PUSCH isallowed in time-domain resources indicated as ‘F’ and ‘U’ symbols inSFI. In one embodiment, if COT sharing is allowed for CG PUCH, CG PUSCHis allowed in time-domain resources indicated as ‘F’ and ‘U’ symbols inSFI, which are also marked as available for CG PUSCH by higher layersignaling (e.g., by bitmap). For example, if all symbols overlapped witha CG PUSCH are indicated as ‘F’ or ‘U’ symbols in a slot, CG PUSCH canbe transmitted subjected to LBT. Category 2 (CAT-2) LBT is used to startthe CG PUSCH transmission. Alternatively, if CG PUSCH overlaps with an‘F’ symbol, it uses CAT-4 (meaning that this is a transmission permittedoutside the gNB's COT); otherwise, CAT-2 is used.

COT Sharing for Discovery Signal (DRS) Transmission

According to some embodiments, in NR-U, gNB can transmit discoverysignal (DRS) within a DRS window. There can be multiple DRS occasionswithin a DRS window. According to some embodiments, gNB only transmitsDRS in one DRS occasion in the DRS window. In a non-limiting example,the length of DRS window can be 5 ms and the length of one DRS occasionis no longer than 1 ms. For DRS only transmission, CAT-2 can be used,which increases the opportunity of channel access. On the other hand, ifDRS and DL data transmission are transmitted in the same DL burst, CAT-4is used, which is for friend co-existence with other Radio AccessTechnology (RAT) like WiFi. In NR-U, once the gNB acquires a COT after asuccessful CAT-4 LBT, gNB can share the COT to UL transmission and therecan be multiple DL/UL and UL/DL switching points for the COT sharing.According to some embodiments, based upon the regulatory requirementsdictated by the ETSI BRAN, a gap can be generated between DLtransmission and UL transmission. The gap can be less than 25 us orlarger than 25 us.

In one embodiment, the gNB acquires a COT after a successful CAT-4 LBT.The COT contains a first part of time resource used for DL and UL datatransmission followed by a second part used for DRS only transmission.In the first part, DCI 2_0 is transmitted to indicate the SFI of thefirst part. There can be one or more switching points in the first part.The gap between the last symbol of the first part and the start of theDRS window can be of a variable length, depending on when the CAT-4 LBTsucceeds and how many DL or UL time resources are allocated in the firstpart. The gNB can try multiple potential occasions with CAT-2 LBT forDRS transmission within DRS window, as shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 depictsanother exemplary Channel Occupancy Time (COT) structure 200, inaccordance with some embodiments. According to some embodiments, thetotal duration of first part and second part does not exceed MCOT.

In one embodiment, the whole length of DRS window 202 is counted towardthe duration of COT 204. Alternatively, only time period of one DRSoccasion is counted toward the duration of COT. Alternatively, if onlysome DRS occasions are considered as candidates by the gNB, only theperiod of the candidate DRS occasions is counted toward the duration ofCOT. According to some embodiments, per regulation, the period from thestart of the COT to the end of DRS is not to exceed 20 ms.

In one embodiment, the last symbol 206 of the first part of the COT isused for UL transmission, as shown in FIG. 2. Alternatively, the lastsymbol of the first part of the COT can be used for either DLtransmission or UL transmission.

Addition/Removal of LBT Subbands in a COT with Multiple DL/UL SwitchingPoints

According to some embodiments, NR-U supports wideband operation.Wideband here refers to the system bandwidth, or a bandwidth part (BWP)configured for a UE. The wideband can be divided into multiple LBTsubbands (SB), e.g., a wideband of 80 MHz is divided into 4 SBs of 20MHz each to coexist with channelization of WiFi. A gNB can perform LBTfor each SB individually, e.g., multi-SB LBT to determine whetherchannel occupation is allowed on the SBs. Once a COT is acquired by thegNB, there can be multiple DL to UL and UL to DL switching points onmultiple SBs.

In the multi-SB LBT scenario, it is possible that LBT is successful onparts of the SBs in the beginning of the COT acquired by the gNB,denoted as SB setX, and the remaining SBs are denoted as SB setY.According to some embodiments, the gNB can start a COT only on SB setXby transmitting downlink channels only using SB setX. In one embodiment,in order to alleviate implementation complexity, SB setX is composedonly by contiguous SBs. FIG. 3 depict an exemplary common COT duration300 over multiple subbands (SB), in accordance with some embodiments. Asshown in FIG. 3 or 4, assuming there are 3 SBs in the active BWP, onlythe first two SBs out of 3 SBs pass LBT, and hence the COT is startedwith the first two SBs. In SB setX 302, the gNB can transmit DLtransmissions, while the gNB cannot transmit or receive on SB setY 304at least for the first downlink burst duration. After SB setX 302 areshared to a UE for uplink transmissions, the gNB can receive ULtransmissions over SB setX 302 while the gNB can also perform receptionoperation over SB setY 304.

In one embodiment, in the SB setY, the gNB can perform a new LBToperation or continue an ongoing LBT operation in the period of sharedUL on SB setX 302 or just before the switching point from UL to DL. TheLBT operation can be CAT-4 or CAT-2, correspondingly. Consequently, whenSB setX 302 is switched back to DL again, it is possible that LBT onpart or all of SB setY 304 also succeed. In this case, the gNB can addthe available SBs of SB setY 304 into the COT. According to someembodiments, SB setY 304 follows the same slot format (whether it is DL,flexible or UL) as SFI of SB setX 302 due to the half duplex operation.For example, DCI 2_0 transmitted after the COT is switched back to DLwill indicate the SFI applicable for both SB setX 302 and the SBs of SBsetY 304/404 where LBT is successful. Further, the DCI 2_0 will indicatethe available SBs including both SB setX 302 and the SBs of SB setY 304where LBT is successful. As shown in FIG. 3, assuming LBT for SB #3 issuccessful during the period of shared UL, UE can transmit DLtransmission on SB #3 after the COT switches back to DL. The COTduration can be limited by the SB setX 302 where LBT is successful inthe beginning. That is, in the SBs of SB setY 304 with LBT succeeded,only the remaining COT can be used.

In one embodiment, in the SB setY 304, the gNB can perform a new LBToperation or continue an ongoing LBT operation in the period of sharedUL on SB setX 302. The LBT operation can be CAT-4. Consequently, when SBsetX 302 is switched back to DL again, it is possible that LBT on partor all of SB setY 304 also succeed. In this case, the gNB can add theavailable SBs of SB setY 304 into the COT. SB setY 304 can follow thesame SFI as SFI of SB setX 302 due to the half duplex operation. Thatis, DCI 2_0 transmitted after the COT is switched back to DL willindicate the SFI applicable for both SB setX 302/402 and the SBs of SBsetY 304 where LBT is successful. Further, the DCI 2_0 will indicate theavailable SBs including both SB setX 302 and the SBs of SB setY 304where LBT is successful. FIG. 4 depict an exemplary independent COTduration 400 over multiple subbands (SB), in accordance with someembodiments. As shown in FIG. 4, assuming LBT for SB #3 is successfulduring the period of shared UL, UE can transmit DL transmission on SB #3after the COT switches back to DL. The COT duration can be independentlycounted for SB setX 402 and the SBs of SB setY 404 where LBT issuccessful. That is, when the gNB has to terminate the COT on SB setX402, the gNB can still continue the COT on the SBs of SB setY 404 whereLBT is successful if COT duration is less than the MCOT on the SBs of SBsetY 404 where LBT is successful. When COT of SB setX 402 terminated,DCI 2_0 transmitted on the SBs of SB setY 404 where LBT is successfulindicates only the SBs of SB setY 404 with LBT succeeded, and alsoindicate the corresponding SFI.

In one embodiment, when the COT is switched from UL back to DL, the gNBmay need to perform CAT-2 LBT on the SBs of SB setX 404 using theswitching gap. If CAT-2 LBT fails in some SBs, the gNB cannot transmiton the DL resource of the SBs. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 (see x marks),due to LBT failure in SB #2, DL transmission on SB #2 after switchinggap from UL to DL can be dropped. However, it is still possible to allowUL transmission on the second shared UL on SB #2 when the COT isswitching back to UL.

In one embodiment, when the COT over SB setX 302/402 is shared to theUE, the UE performs CAT-2 LBT during the switching gap from DL to UL. Ifthere is any SBs in SB setX 302/402 where LBT fails, then the UE may nottransmit uplink transmissions over the SBs where LBT is not successful.Then UE may indicate the information which SBs passes LBT to the gNB. UEcan use UCI or any additional signaling for the indication. Or the gNBmay implicitly detect the available UL SBs for the UE by detecting UE'stransmission.

In one embodiment, when the COT over SBs in SB setX 302/402 is shared tothe UE, the UE can transmit its uplink channels and signals using theavailable SBs. Based on the UE traffic situation, the UE may not utilizeall the available SBs inside the COT. In this case, if the UE onlytransmits uplink transmissions over some of the SBs in SB setX 302/402,then other devices may get the channels of the unused SBs. Therefore, inorder to use keep the COT, the gNB schedules uplink transmissions, whichcovers all available SBs in SB setX 302/402. In one example, one way isto utilize the interlace design which covers all SBs in SB setX 302/402.Or the UE may transmit reservation signal for some of the SBs in SB setX302/402.

In one embodiment, when the gNB transmits DL transmissions on some SBs,the gNB cannot do reception on other SBs. A UE after knowing SFI avoidsCG PUSCH transmission in the period of DL transmission, since the gNBanyway cannot receive CG PUSCH. For example, as shown in FIG. 3 or 4,the UE avoids CG PUSCH transmission in slots marked as X1.

In one embodiment, the COT is shared to UL on some SBs, which aredenoted as SB setA. Other SBs are denoted as SB setB. A UE can transmitCG PUSCH on SB setB since the gNB can do reception in the period ofshared UL. As shown in FIG. 3 or 4, such slots UE could transmit CGPUSCH transmission in slots marked as X2.

In one embodiment, the COT is shared to UL on some SBs, which aredenoted as SB setA. Other SBs are denoted as SB setB. the gNB canschedule PUSCH transmission on one or more SBs in SB setA with CAT-2,e.g. PUSCH U1 and U2 in FIG. 5. FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary PhysicalUplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission 500 using category 2 (CAT-2)and category 4 (CAT-4), in according with some embodiments. The gNB canschedule PUSCH transmission on one or more SBs in SB setB with CAT-4,e.g., PUSCH U4 in FIG. 5. The gNB can schedule PUSCH transmissionspanning SBs in both SB setA and setB with CAT-4, e.g., PUSCH U3 in FIG.5.

Anchor Subband Based Wideband Operation

Based upon the previous embodiments, if the UE is not informed about thechange in the gNB's TX bandwidth, the UE will potentially receive asignificant amount of in-band interference on the sub-bands that thegNodeB is not using. Furthermore, this will impose the UE to perform asignificant amount of hypothesis testing, and signal processing, whichmay impact power consumption, and also have a very complicated RF chain.

In one embodiment, a dynamic indication of the TX bandwidth is providedso that the UE can timely adjust its RF settings, and prevent from beingsubject from the in-band interference within the sub-bands over whichthe gNB has not succeeded, and is not performing any DL transmission.

When designing the dynamic indication of the TX bandwidth, particularattention is given to the processing time of the UE to decode additionalinformation related to the TX bandwidth that is adjusted by the gNBbased on its LBT procedure, which can done with a resolution of, forexample, 20 MHz, and sent along with the DL data transmission. In thismatter, the DL burst containing dynamic indication of the TX bandwidthcan be sufficiently long to allow the UE to decode the information, andeventually adjust its RF chain.

In one embodiment, a specific SB is used as an anchor SB, which alwayscarries information related to the TX bandwidth. A UE always relies onthe reception on this SB to adjust its RF chain for the subsequent DLtransmissions. In one embodiment, in order to perform transmission theset of SBs, SB setX always contain the anchor SB for a gNB to be allowedto transmit within the SB setX. This may impose an obvious limitation interms of channel access, since the success of the LBT over a wider bandis conditional over the success over this specific SB, however thisallows to simplify greatly the UE implementation. In one embodiment, oneor multiple anchor SBs can be defined. In one embodiment, the anchor SBused is cell-specific or depends on the particular channel raster usedso that to limit the amount of potential interference on the anchor SB.

In one embodiment, DCI 2_0 provides either separate or jointlyindication of the TX bandwidth and specific bandwidth used (e.g.,specific 20 MHz units used) by the gNB. In one embodiment, the DCI 2_0with indication of the TX bandwidth is transmitted in all the SBsbelonging to the SB setX through a frequency-domain repetition, or onlyon the anchor SB. In one embodiment, the transmission of the controlinformation is performed over X symbols, before the gNB startstransmitting over the whole bandwidth available without any frequencydomain repetitions in units of sub-bands. In this case, the UE is set toperform reception over 20 MHz band, until it is able to perform RFretuning and be able to receive over the whole TX bandwidth.

In one embodiment, the indication can be provided through a bitmap,which indicates explicitly which SBs are used: the MSB may indicate thehighest sub-band, and the LSB may indicate the lowest sub-band or viceversa, where the sub-bands may be numbered in a hierarchical order(e.g., sequentially starting from the upper band edge or the lower bandedge) while indicating via bitmap.

In one embodiment, the UE always monitors at the beginning of each DLburst the anchor SB to retrieve information related to the TX bandwidthused: the UE expects the transmission of the control information whichcontains indication of its TX bandwidth on a specific sub-band, or groupof sub-bands.

In one embodiment, if the LBT succeeds over a number of non-contiguousSBs, the transmitter may only use the consecutive SB(s) closest to theupper edge or the lower edge of the band, in order to avoid any complexdecoder implementations at the receiver side and limit memoryutilization, and leave the other bands (not contiguous with the chosenband) unused, even if LBT succeeded over them. In case, SB setX containsnon-contiguous SBs, the largest contiguous SB closer to the edge ofeither the upper or lower band is used.

Systems and Implementations

FIG. 6 illustrates an example architecture of a system 600 of a network,in accordance with various embodiments. The following description isprovided for an example system 600 that operates in conjunction with theLTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards as provided by 3GPPtechnical specifications. However, the example embodiments are notlimited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to othernetworks that benefit from the principles described herein, such asfuture 3GPP systems (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), or the like.

As shown by FIG. 6, the system 600 includes UE 601 a and UE 601 b(collectively referred to as “UEs 601” or “UE 601”). In this example,UEs 601 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreenmobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks),but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such asconsumer electronics devices, cellular phones, smartphones, featurephones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptopcomputers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE)devices, an Instrument Cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices,onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobiledata terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS),electronic/engine control units (ECUs), electronic/engine controlmodules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules,engine management systems (EMS), networked or “smart” appliances, MTCdevices, M2M, IoT devices, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, any of the UEs 601 may be IoT UEs, which maycomprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applicationsutilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologiessuch as M2M or MTC for exchanging data with an MTC server or device viaa PLMN, ProSe or D2D communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks.The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange ofdata. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which mayinclude uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within theInternet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs mayexecute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, statusupdates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network.

The UEs 601 may be configured to connect, for example, communicativelycouple, with an or RAN 610. In embodiments, the RAN 610 may be an NG RANor a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN. Asused herein, the term “NG RAN” or the like may refer to a RAN 610 thatoperates in an NR or 5G system 600, and the term “E-UTRAN” or the likemay refer to a RAN 610 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 600. The UEs601 utilize connections (or channels) 603 and 604, respectively, each ofwhich comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussedin further detail below).

In this example, the connections 603 and 604 are illustrated as an airinterface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent withcellular communications protocols, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMAnetwork protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMITS protocol, a3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and/or any of the othercommunications protocols discussed herein. In embodiments, the UEs 601may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 605. TheProSe interface 605 may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface605 and may comprise one or more logical channels, including but notlimited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH.

The UE 601 b is shown to be configured to access an AP 606 (alsoreferred to as “WLAN node 606,” “WLAN 606,” “WLAN Termination 606,” “WT606” or the like) via connection 607. The connection 607 can comprise alocal wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 606 would comprise a wireless fidelity(Wi-Fi®) router. In this example, the AP 606 is shown to be connected tothe Internet without connecting to the core network of the wirelesssystem (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, theUE 601 b, RAN 610, and AP 606 may be configured to utilize LWA operationand/or LWIP operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE 601 b inRRC_CONNECTED being configured by a RAN node 611 a-b to utilize radioresources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve the UE 601 b usingWLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 607) via IPsec protocol tunnelingto authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over theconnection 607. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entiretyof original IP packets and adding a new packet header, therebyprotecting the original header of the IP packets.

The RAN 610 can include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 611 a and 611b (collectively referred to as “RAN nodes 611” or “RAN node 611”) thatenable the connections 603 and 604. As used herein, the terms “accessnode,” “access point,” or the like may describe equipment that providesthe radio baseband functions for data and/or voice connectivity betweena network and one or more users. These access nodes can be referred toas BS, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs or TRPs, and so forth,and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) orsatellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., acell). As used herein, the term “NG RAN node” or the like may refer to aRAN node 611 that operates in an NR or 5G system 600 (for example, agNB), and the term “E-UTRAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node611 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 600 (e.g., an eNB). Accordingto various embodiments, the RAN nodes 611 may be implemented as one ormore of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station,and/or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocellsor other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller usercapacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

In some embodiments, all or parts of the RAN nodes 611 may beimplemented as one or more software entities running on server computersas part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN and/ora virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN orvBBUP may implement a RAN function split, such as a PDCP split whereinRRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other L2 protocolentities are operated by individual RAN nodes 611; a MAC/PHY splitwherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUPand the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 611; or a “lowerPHY” split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers and upper portions of thePHY layer are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and lower portions of the PHYlayer are operated by individual RAN nodes 611. This virtualizedframework allows the freed-up processor cores of the RAN nodes 611 toperform other virtualized applications. In some implementations, anindividual RAN node 611 may represent individual gNB-DUs that areconnected to a gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces (not shown by FIG.6). In these implementations, the gNB-DUs may include one or more remoteradio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., FIG. 9), and the gNB-CU may be operatedby a server that is located in the RAN 610 (not shown) or by a serverpool in a similar manner as the CRAN/vBBUP. Additionally oralternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 611 may be next generationeNBs (ng-eNBs), which are RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane andcontrol plane protocol terminations toward the UEs 601, and areconnected to a 5GC (e.g., CN 820 of FIG. 8) via an NG interface(discussed infra).

In V2X scenarios one or more of the RAN nodes 611 may be or act as RSUs.The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” may refer to any transportationinfrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may beimplemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relativelystationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referredto as a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may bereferred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by a gNB maybe referred to as a “gNB-type RSU,” and the like. In one example, an RSUis a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located ona roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs 601(vUEs 601). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry tostore intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well asapplications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular andpedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct ShortRange Communications (DSRC) band to provide very low latencycommunications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance,traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSUmay operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned lowlatency communications, as well as other cellular communicationsservices. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fihotspot (2.4 GHz band) and/or provide connectivity to one or morecellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Thecomputing device(s) and some or all of the radiofrequency circuitry ofthe RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoorinstallation, and may include a network interface controller to providea wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controllerand/or a backhaul network.

Any of the RAN nodes 611 can terminate the air interface protocol andcan be the first point of contact for the UEs 601. In some embodiments,any of the RAN nodes 611 can fulfill various logical functions for theRAN 610 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC)functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamicradio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobilitymanagement.

In embodiments, the UEs 601 can be configured to communicate using OFDMcommunication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 611over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with variouscommunication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OFDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SC-FDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelinkcommunications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited inthis respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonalsubcarriers.

In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the RAN nodes 611 to the UEs 601, while uplinktransmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be atime-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resourcegrid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Sucha time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDMsystems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Eachcolumn and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symboland one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource gridin the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. Thesmallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resourceelement. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, whichdescribe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements.Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in thefrequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resourcesthat currently can be allocated. There are several different physicaldownlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

According to various embodiments, the UEs 601 a, 601 b and the RAN nodes611 a, 611 b communicate data (for example, transmit and receive) dataover a licensed medium (also referred to as the “licensed spectrum”and/or the “licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (alsoreferred to as the “unlicensed spectrum” and/or the “unlicensed band”).The licensed spectrum may include channels that operate in the frequencyrange of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, whereas theunlicensed spectrum may include the 5 GHz band.

To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UEs 601 a, 601 b and the RANnodes 611 a, 611 b may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms.In these implementations, the UEs 601 a, 601 b and the RAN nodes 611 a,611 b may perform one or more known medium-sensing operations and/orcarrier-sensing operations in order to determine whether one or morechannels in the unlicensed spectrum is unavailable or otherwise occupiedprior to transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium/carriersensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk(LBT) protocol.

LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (for example, UEs 601 a, 601 b, RANnodes 611 a, 611 b, etc.) senses a medium (for example, a channel orcarrier frequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle(or when a specific channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied).The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least EDto determine the presence or absence of other signals on a channel inorder to determine if a channel is occupied or clear. This LBT mechanismallows cellular/LAA networks to coexist with incumbent systems in theunlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensingRF energy across an intended transmission band for a period of time andcomparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

Typically, the incumbent systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based onIEEE 802.11 technologies. WLAN employs a contention-based channel accessmechanism, called CSMA/CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobilestation (MS) such as UE 601 a or 601 b, AP 606, or the like) intends totransmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission.Additionally, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions insituations where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle andtransmits at the same time. The backoff mechanism may be a counter thatis drawn randomly within the CWS, which is increased exponentially uponthe occurrence of collision and reset to a minimum value when thetransmission succeeds. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhatsimilar to the CSMA/CA of WLAN. In some implementations, the LBTprocedure for DL or UL transmission bursts including PDSCH or PUSCHtransmissions, respectively, may have an LAA contention window that isvariable in length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are minimumand maximum values for the CWSs for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWSfor an LAA transmission may be 9 microseconds (s); however, the size ofthe CWS and a MCOT (for example, a transmission burst) may be based ongovernmental regulatory requirements.

The LAA mechanisms are built upon CA technologies of LTE-Advancedsystems. In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to as a CC. A CC mayhave a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz and a maximum of fiveCCs can be aggregated, and therefore, a maximum aggregated bandwidth is100 MHz. In FDD systems, the number of aggregated carriers can bedifferent for DL and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lowerthan the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCscan have a different bandwidth than other CCs. In TDD systems, thenumber of CCs as well as the bandwidths of each CC is usually the samefor DL and UL.

CA also comprises individual serving cells to provide individual CCs.The coverage of the serving cells may differ, for example, because CCson different frequency bands will experience different pathloss. Aprimary service cell or PCell may provide a PCC for both UL and DL, andmay handle RRC and NAS related activities. The other serving cells arereferred to as SCells, and each SCell may provide an individual SCC forboth UL and DL. The SCCs may be added and removed as required, whilechanging the PCC may require the UE 601 a, 601 b to undergo a handover.In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in theunlicensed spectrum (referred to as “LAA SCells”), and the LAA SCellsare assisted by a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE isconfigured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants onthe configured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH starting positionswithin a same subframe.

The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 601.The PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resourceallocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It mayalso inform the UEs 601 about the transport format, resource allocation,and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically,downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resourceblocks to the UE 601 b within a cell) may be performed at any of the RANnodes 611 based on channel quality information fed back from any of theUEs 601. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on thePDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 601.

The PDCCH uses CCEs to convey the control information. Before beingmapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may firstbe organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using asub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmittedusing one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to ninesets of four physical resource elements known as REGs. Four QuadraturePhase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCHcan be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of theDCI and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCHformats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregationlevel, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for controlchannel information that are an extension of the above-describedconcepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an EPDCCH that usesPDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may betransmitted using one or more ECCEs. Similar to above, each ECCE maycorrespond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as anEREGs. An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

The RAN nodes 611 may be configured to communicate with one another viainterface 612. In embodiments where the system 600 is an LTE system(e.g., when CN 620 is an EPC 720 as in FIG. 7), the interface 612 may bean X2 interface 612. The X2 interface may be defined between two or moreRAN nodes 611 (e.g., two or more eNBs and the like) that connect to EPC620, and/or between two eNBs connecting to EPC 620. In someimplementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface(X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provideflow control mechanisms for user data packets transferred over the X2interface, and may be used to communicate information about the deliveryof user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specificsequence number information for user data transferred from a MeNB to anSeNB; information about successful in sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs toa UE 601 from an SeNB for user data; information of PDCP PDUs that werenot delivered to a UE 601; information about a current minimum desiredbuffer size at the SeNB for transmitting to the UE user data; and thelike. The X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functionality,including context transfers from source to target eNBs, user planetransport control, etc.; load management functionality; as well asinter-cell interference coordination functionality.

In embodiments where the system 600 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN620 is an 5GC 820 as in FIG. 8), the interface 612 may be an Xninterface 612. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes611 (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) that connect to 5GC 620,between a RAN node 611 (e.g., a gNB) connecting to 5GC 620 and an eNB,and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC 620. In some implementations,the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xncontrol plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteeddelivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flowcontrol functionality. The Xn-C may provide management and errorhandling functionality, functionality to manage the Xn-C interface;mobility support for UE 601 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED)including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected modebetween one or more RAN nodes 611. The mobility support may includecontext transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node 611 to new(target) serving RAN node 611; and control of user plane tunnels betweenold (source) serving RAN node 611 to new (target) serving RAN node 611.A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer builton Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of aUDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stackmay include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as XnApplication Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that isbuilt on SCTP. The SCTP may be on top of an IP layer, and may providethe guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transportIP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signalingPDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-Cprotocol stack may be same or similar to the user plane and/or controlplane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein.

The RAN 610 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network—inthis embodiment, core network (CN) 620. The CN 620 may comprise aplurality of network elements 622, which are configured to offer variousdata and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g.,users of UEs 601) who are connected to the CN 620 via the RAN 610. Thecomponents of the CN 620 may be implemented in one physical node orseparate physical nodes including components to read and executeinstructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g.,a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments,NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-describednetwork node functions via executable instructions stored in one or morecomputer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). Alogical instantiation of the CN 620 may be referred to as a networkslice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 620 may bereferred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architectures andinfrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions,alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resourcescomprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storagehardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used toexecute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPCcomponents/functions.

Generally, the application server 630 may be an element offeringapplications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g.,UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 630can also be configured to support one or more communication services(e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, socialnetworking services, etc.) for the UEs 601 via the EPC 620.

In embodiments, the CN 620 may be a 5GC (referred to as “5GC 620” or thelike), and the RAN 610 may be connected with the CN 620 via an NGinterface 613. In embodiments, the NG interface 613 may be split intotwo parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 614, which carries trafficdata between the RAN nodes 611 and a UPF, and the S1 control plane(NG-C) interface 615, which is a signaling interface between the RANnodes 611 and AMFs. Embodiments where the CN 620 is a 5GC 620 arediscussed in more detail with regard to FIG. 8.

In embodiments, the CN 620 may be a 5G CN (referred to as “5GC 620” orthe like), while in other embodiments, the CN 620 may be an EPC). WhereCN 620 is an EPC (referred to as “EPC 620” or the like), the RAN 610 maybe connected with the CN 620 via an S1 interface 613. In embodiments,the S1 interface 613 may be split into two parts, an S1 user plane(S1-U) interface 614, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes611 and the S-GW, and the S1-MME interface 615, which is a signalinginterface between the RAN nodes 611 and MMEs. An example architecturewherein the CN 620 is an EPC 620 is shown by FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example architecture of a system 700 including afirst CN 720, in accordance with various embodiments. In this example,system 700 may implement the LTE standard wherein the CN 720 is an EPC720 that corresponds with CN 620 of FIG. 6. Additionally, the UE 701 maybe the same or similar as the UEs 601 of FIG. 6, and the E-UTRAN 710 maybe a RAN that is the same or similar to the RAN 610 of FIG. 6, and whichmay include RAN nodes 611 discussed previously. The CN 720 may compriseMMEs 721, an S-GW 722, a P-GW 723, a HSS 724, and a SGSN 725.

The MMEs 721 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacySGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the currentlocation of a UE 701. The MMEs 721 may perform various MM procedures tomanage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and trackingarea list management. MM (also referred to as “EPS MM” or “EMM” inE-UTRAN systems) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, datastorage, etc. that are used to maintain knowledge about a presentlocation of the UE 701, provide user identity confidentiality, and/orperform other like services to users/subscribers. Each UE 701 and theMME 721 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and an MM context may beestablished in the UE 701 and the MME 721 when an attach procedure issuccessfully completed. The MM context may be a data structure ordatabase object that stores MM-related information of the UE 701. TheMMEs 721 may be coupled with the HSS 724 via an S6a reference point,coupled with the SGSN 725 via an S3 reference point, and coupled withthe S-GW 722 via an S11 reference point.

The SGSN 725 may be a node that serves the UE 701 by tracking thelocation of an individual UE 701 and performing security functions. Inaddition, the SGSN 725 may perform Inter-EPC node signaling for mobilitybetween 2G/3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selectionas specified by the MMEs 721; handling of UE 701 time zone functions asspecified by the MMEs 721; and MME selection for handovers to E-UTRAN3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between the MMEs 721 and theSGSN 725 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPPaccess network mobility in idle and/or active states.

The HSS 724 may comprise a database for network users, includingsubscription-related information to support the network entities'handling of communication sessions. The EPC 720 may comprise one orseveral HSSs 724, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on thecapacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. Forexample, the HSS 724 can provide support for routing/roaming,authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, locationdependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 724 and theMMEs 721 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data forauthenticating/authorizing user access to the EPC 720 between HSS 724and the MMEs 721.

The S-GW 722 may terminate the S1 interface 613 (“S1-U” in FIG. 7)toward the RAN 710, and routes data packets between the RAN 710 and theEPC 720. In addition, the S-GW 722 may be a local mobility anchor pointfor inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor forinter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawfulintercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. The S11 referencepoint between the S-GW 722 and the MMEs 721 may provide a control planebetween the MMEs 721 and the S-GW 722. The S-GW 722 may be coupled withthe P-GW 723 via an S5 reference point.

The P-GW 723 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN 730. The P-GW723 may route data packets between the EPC 720 and external networkssuch as a network including the application server 630 (alternativelyreferred to as an “AF”) via an IP interface 625 (see e.g., FIG. 6). Inembodiments, the P-GW 723 may be communicatively coupled to anapplication server (application server 630 of FIG. 6 or PDN 730 in FIG.7) via an IP communications interface 625 (see, e.g., FIG. 6). The S5reference point between the P-GW 723 and the S-GW 722 may provide userplane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 723 and the S-GW722. The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW 722 relocation dueto UE 701 mobility and if the S-GW 722 needs to connect to anon-collocated P-GW 723 for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW 723may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging datacollection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)). Additionally, the SGi referencepoint between the P-GW 723 and the packet data network (PDN) 730 may bean operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra operator packetdata network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The P-GW 723may be coupled with a PCRF 726 via a Gx reference point.

PCRF 726 is the policy and charging control element of the EPC 720. In anon-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF 726 in the Home PublicLand Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE 701's Internet ProtocolConnectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario withlocal breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE701's IP-CAN session, a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within an HPLMN and a VisitedPCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). ThePCRF 726 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 730via the P-GW 723. The application server 730 may signal the PCRF 726 toindicate a new service flow and select the appropriate QoS and chargingparameters. The PCRF 726 may provision this rule into a PCEF (not shown)with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which commences the QoS and chargingas specified by the application server 730. The Gx reference pointbetween the PCRF 726 and the P-GW 723 may allow for the transfer of QoSpolicy and charging rules from the PCRF 726 to PCEF in the P-GW 723. AnRx reference point may reside between the PDN 730 (or “AF 730”) and thePCRF 726.

FIG. 8 illustrates an architecture of a system 800 including a second CN820 in accordance with various embodiments. The system 800 is shown toinclude a UE 801, which may be the same or similar to the UEs 601 and UE701 discussed previously; a (R)AN 810, which may be the same or similarto the RAN 610 and RAN 710 discussed previously, and which may includeRAN nodes 611 discussed previously; and a DN 803, which may be, forexample, operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services; and a5GC 820. The 5GC 820 may include an AUSF 822; an AMF 821; a SMIF 824; aNEF 823; a PCF 826; a NRF 825; a UDM 827; an AF 828; a UPF 802; and aNSSF 829.

The UPF 802 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RATmobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to DN 803, and abranching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 802 may alsoperform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection,enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets(UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handlingfor a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rateenforcement), perform Uplink Traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flowmapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, andperform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notificationtriggering. UPF 802 may include an uplink classifier to support routingtraffic flows to a data network. The DN 803 may represent variousnetwork operator services, Internet access, or third party services. DN803 may include, or be similar to, application server 630 discussedpreviously. The UPF 802 may interact with the SMF 824 via an N4reference point between the SMF 824 and the UPF 802.

The AUSF 822 may store data for authentication of UE 801 and handleauthentication-related functionality. The AUSF 822 may facilitate acommon authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 822may communicate with the AMF 821 via an N12 reference point between theAMF 821 and the AUSF 822; and may communicate with the UDM 827 via anN13 reference point between the UDM 827 and the AUSF 822. Additionally,the AUSF 822 may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface.

The AMF 821 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., forregistering UE 801, etc.), connection management, reachabilitymanagement, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-relatedevents, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 821 may bea termination point for the an N11 reference point between the AMF 821and the SMF 824. The AMF 821 may provide transport for SM messagesbetween the UE 801 and the SMF 824, and act as a transparent proxy forrouting SM messages. AMF 821 may also provide transport for SMS messagesbetween UE 801 and an SMSF (not shown by FIG. 8). AMF 821 may act asSEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 822 and the UE 801,receipt of an intermediate key that was established as a result of theUE 801 authentication process. Where USIM based authentication is used,the AMF 821 may retrieve the security material from the AUSF 822. AMF821 may also include a SCM function, which receives a key from the SEAthat it uses to derive access-network specific keys. Furthermore, AMF821 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may includeor be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN 810 and the AMF 821; andthe AMF 821 may be a termination point of NAS (N1) signalling, andperform NAS ciphering and integrity protection.

AMF 821 may also support NAS signalling with a UE 801 over an N3 IWFinterface. The N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrustedentities. N3IWF may be a termination point for the N2 interface betweenthe (R)AN 810 and the AMF 821 for the control plane, and may be atermination point for the N3 reference point between the (R)AN 810 andthe UPF 802 for the user plane. As such, the AMF 821 may handle N2signalling from the SMF 824 and the AMF 821 for PDU sessions and QoS,encapsulate/de-encapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunneling, mark N3user-plane packets in the uplink, and enforce QoS corresponding to N3packet marking taking into account QoS requirements associated with suchmarking received over N2. N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlinkcontrol-plane NAS signalling between the UE 801 and AMF 821 via an N1reference point between the UE 801 and the AMF 821, and relay uplink anddownlink user-plane packets between the UE 801 and UPF 802. The N3IWFalso provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishment with the UE 801.The AMF 821 may exhibit an Namf service-based interface, and may be atermination point for an N14 reference point between two AMFs 821 and anN17 reference point between the AMF 821 and a 5G-EIR (not shown by FIG.8).

The UE 801 may need to register with the AMF 821 in order to receivenetwork services. RM is used to register or deregister the UE 801 withthe network (e.g., AMF 821), and establish a UE context in the network(e.g., AMF 821). The UE 801 may operate in an RM-REGISTERED state or anRM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, the HE 801 is notregistered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 821 holds novalid location or routing information for the UE 801 so the UE 801 isnot reachable by the AMF 821. In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE 801 isregistered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 821 may hold avalid location or routing information for the UE 801 so the UE 801 isreachable by the AMF 821. In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE 801 mayperform mobility Registration Update procedures, perform periodicRegistration Update procedures triggered by expiration of the periodicupdate timer (e.g., to notify the network that the UE 801 is stillactive), and perform a Registration Update procedure to update UEcapability information or to re-negotiate protocol parameters with thenetwork, among others.

The AMF 821 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 801, where eachRM context is associated with a specific access to the network. The RMcontext may be a data structure, database object, etc. that indicates orstores, inter alia, a registration state per access type and theperiodic update timer. The AMF 821 may also store a 5GC MM context thatmay be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. Invarious embodiments, the AMF 821 may store a CE mode B Restrictionparameter of the UE 801 in an associated MM context or RM context. TheAMF 821 may also derive the value, when needed, from the UE's usagesetting parameter already stored in the UE context (and/or MMV/RMcontext).

CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection betweenthe UE 801 and the AMF 821 over the N1 interface. The signalingconnection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 801and the CN 820, and comprises both the signaling connection between theUE and the AN (e.g., RRC connection or UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPPaccess) and the N2 connection for the UE 801 between the AN (e.g., RAN810) and the AMF 821. The UE 801 may operate in one of two CM states,CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE 801 is operating in theCM-IDLE state/mode, the UE 801 may have no NAS signaling connectionestablished with the AMF 821 over the N1 interface, and there may be(R)AN 810 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for theUE 801. When the UE 801 is operating in the CM-CONNECTED state/mode, theUE 801 may have an established NAS signaling connection with the AMF 821over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 810 signaling connection(e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE 801. Establishment of an N2connection between the (R)AN 810 and the AMF 821 may cause the UE 801 totransition from CM-IDLE mode to CM-CONNECTED mode, and the UE 801 maytransition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode when N2signaling between the (R)AN 810 and the AMF 821 is released.

The SMF 824 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment,modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node);UE IP address allocation and management (including optionalauthorization); selection and control of UP function; configuringtraffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination;termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controllingpart of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events andinterface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages;downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sentvia AMF over N2 to AN; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM mayrefer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” mayrefer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables theexchange of PDUs between a UE 801 and a data network (DN) 803 identifiedby a Data Network Name (DNN). PDU sessions may be established upon UE801 request, modified upon UE 801 and 5GC 820 request, and released uponUE 801 and 5GC 820 request using NAS SM signaling exchanged over the N1reference point between the UE 801 and the SMF 824. Upon request from anapplication server, the 5GC 820 may trigger a specific application inthe UE 801. In response to receipt of the trigger message, the UE 801may pass the trigger message (or relevant parts/information of thetrigger message) to one or more identified applications in the UE 801.The identified application(s) in the UE 801 may establish a PDU sessionto a specific DNN. The SMF 824 may check whether the UE 801 requests arecompliant with user subscription information associated with the UE 801.In this regard, the SMF 824 may retrieve and/or request to receiveupdate notifications on SMF 824 level subscription data from the UDM827.

The SMF 824 may include the following roaming functionality: handlinglocal enforcement to apply QoS SLAs (VPLMN); charging data collectionand charging interface (VPLMN); lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM eventsand interface to LI system); and support for interaction with externalDN for transport of signalling for PDU sessionauthorization/authentication by external DN. An N16 reference pointbetween two SMFs 824 may be included in the system 800, which may bebetween another SMF 824 in a visited network and the SMF 824 in the homenetwork in roaming scenarios. Additionally, the SMF 824 may exhibit theNsmf service-based interface.

The NEF 823 may provide means for securely exposing the services andcapabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party,internal exposure/re-exposure, Application Functions (e.g., AF 828),edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, theNEF 823 may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. NEF 823may also translate information exchanged with the AF 828 and informationexchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 823 maytranslate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GCinformation. NEF 823 may also receive information from other networkfunctions (NFs) based on exposed capabilities of other networkfunctions. This information may be stored at the NEF 823 as structureddata, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The storedinformation can then be re-exposed by the NEF 823 to other NFs and AFs,and/or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF823 may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface.

The NRF 825 may support service discovery functions, receive NFdiscovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of thediscovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 825 also maintainsinformation of available NF instances and their supported services. Asused herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like mayrefer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to aconcrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, duringexecution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 825 may exhibit theNnrf service-based interface.

The PCF 826 may provide policy rules to control plane function(s) toenforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to governnetwork behaviour. The PCF 826 may also implement an FE to accesssubscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of theUDM 827. The PCF 826 may communicate with the AMF 821 via an N15reference point between the PCF 826 and the AMF 821, which may include aPCF 826 in a visited network and the AMF 821 in case of roamingscenarios. The PCF 826 may communicate with the AF 828 via an N5reference point between the PCF 826 and the AF 828; and with the SMF 824via an N7 reference point between the PCF 826 and the SMF 824. Thesystem 800 and/or CN 820 may also include an N24 reference point betweenthe PCF 826 (in the home network) and a PCF 826 in a visited network.Additionally, the PCF 826 may exhibit an Npcf service-based interface.

The UDM 827 may handle subscription-related information to support thenetwork entities' handling of communication sessions, and may storesubscription data of UE 801. For example, subscription data may becommunicated between the UDM 827 and the AMF 821 via an N8 referencepoint between the UDM 827 and the AMF. The UDM 827 may include twoparts, an application FE and a UDR (the FE and UDR are not shown by FIG.8). The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 827and the PCF 826, and/or structured data for exposure and applicationdata (including PFDs for application detection, application requestinformation for multiple UEs 801) for the NEF 823. The Nudrservice-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM827, PCF 826, and NEF 823 to access a particular set of the stored data,as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe tonotification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include aUDM-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, locationmanagement, subscription management and so on. Several different frontends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FEaccesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performsauthentication credential processing, user identification handling,access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscriptionmanagement. The UDR may interact with the SMF 824 via an N10 referencepoint between the UDM 827 and the SMF 824. UDM 827 may also support SMSmanagement, wherein an SMS-FE implements the similar application logicas discussed previously. Additionally, the UDM 827 may exhibit the Nudmservice-based interface.

The AF 828 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provideaccess to the NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policycontrol. The NCE may be a mechanism that allows the 5GC 820 and AF 828to provide information to each other via NEF 823, which may be used foredge computing implementations. In such implementations, the networkoperator and third party services may be hosted close to the UE 801access point of attachment to achieve an efficient service deliverythrough the reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transportnetwork. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC may select a UPF802 close to the UE 801 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 802 toDN 803 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscriptiondata, UE location, and information provided by the AF 828. In this way,the AF 828 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based onoperator deployment, when AF 828 is considered to be a trusted entity,the network operator may permit AF 828 to interact directly withrelevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 828 may exhibit an Naf service-basedinterface.

The NSSF 829 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE801. The NSSF 829 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping tothe subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 829 may also determine theAMF set to be used to serve the UE 801, or a list of candidate AMF(s)821 based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF825. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 801may be triggered by the AMF 821 with which the UE 801 is registered byinteracting with the NSSF 829, which may lead to a change of AMF 821.The NSSF 829 may interact with the AMF 821 via an N22 reference pointbetween AMF 821 and NSSF 829; and may communicate with another NSSF 829in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown by FIG. 8).Additionally, the NSSF 829 may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface.

As discussed previously, the CN 820 may include an SMSF, which may beresponsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relayingSM messages to/from the UE 801 to/from other entities, such as anSMS-GMSC/IWMSC/SMS-router. The SMS may also interact with AMF 821 andUDM 827 for a notification procedure that the UE 801 is available forSMS transfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM 827when UE 801 is available for SMS).

The CN 120 may also include other elements that are not shown by FIG. 8,such as a Data Storage system/architecture, a 5G-EIR, a SEPP, and thelike. The Data Storage system may include a SDSF, an UDSF, and/or thelike. Any NF may store and retrieve unstructured data into/from the UDSF(e.g., UE contexts), via N18 reference point between any NF and the UDSF(not shown by FIG. 8). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing theirrespective unstructured data or individual NFs may each have their ownUDSF located at or near the individual NFs. Additionally, the UDSF mayexhibit an Nudsf service-based interface (not shown by FIG. 8). The5G-EIR may be an NF that checks the status of PEI for determiningwhether particular equipment/entities are blacklisted from the network;and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topologyhiding, message filtering, and policing on inter-PLMN control planeinterfaces.

Additionally, there may be many more reference points and/orservice-based interfaces between the NF services in the NFs; however,these interfaces and reference points have been omitted from FIG. 8 forclarity. In one example, the CN 820 may include an Nx interface, whichis an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME 721) and the AMF 821in order to enable interworking between CN 820 and CN 720. Other exampleinterfaces/reference points may include an N5g-EIR service-basedinterface exhibited by a 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between the NRFin the visited network and the NRF in the home network; and an N31reference point between the NSSF in the visited network and the NSSF inthe home network.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment 900 inaccordance with various embodiments. The infrastructure equipment 900(or “system 900”) may be implemented as a base station, radio head, RANnode such as the RAN nodes 611 and/or AP 606 shown and describedpreviously, application server(s) 630, and/or any other element/devicediscussed herein. In other examples, the system 900 could be implementedin or by a UE.

The system 900 includes application circuitry 905, baseband circuitry910, one or more radio front end modules (RFEMs) 915, memory circuitry920, power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 925, power teecircuitry 930, network controller circuitry 935, network interfaceconnector 940, satellite positioning circuitry 945, and user interface950. In some embodiments, the device 900 may include additional elementssuch as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, orinput/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the componentsdescribed below may be included in more than one device. For example,said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device forCRAN, vBBU, or other like implementations.

Application circuitry 905 includes circuitry such as, but not limited toone or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one ormore of low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers,serial interfaces such as SPI, I²C or universal programmable serialinterface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters includinginterval and watchdog timers, general purpose input/output (I/O or IO),memory card controllers such as Secure Digital (SD) MultiMediaCard (MMC)or similar, Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, Mobile IndustryProcessor Interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG)test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the applicationcircuitry 905 may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elementsand may be configured to execute instructions stored in thememory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems torun on the system 900. In some implementations, the memory/storageelements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitablevolatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM,Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory devicetechnology, such as those discussed herein.

The processor(s) of application circuitry 905 may include, for example,one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors,one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISCMachine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing(CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSP), one ormore FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or moremicroprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. Insome embodiments, the application circuitry 905 may comprise, or may be,a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to thevarious embodiments herein. As examples, the processor(s) of applicationcircuitry 905 may include one or more Intel Pentium®, Core®, or Xeon®processor(s); Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s),Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), or Epyc® processors; ARM-basedprocessor(s) licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. such as the ARM Cortex-Afamily of processors and the ThunderX2® provided by Cavium™, Inc.; aMIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS WarriorP-class processors; and/or the like. In some embodiments, the system 900may not utilize application circuitry 905, and instead may include aspecial-purpose processor/controller to process IP data received from anEPC or 5GC, for example.

In some implementations, the application circuitry 905 may include oneor more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors,programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardwareaccelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deeplearning (DL) accelerators. As examples, the programmable processingdevices may be one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such asfield-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and the like; programmable logicdevices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs(HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like;programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such implementations, thecircuitry of application circuitry 905 may comprise logic blocks orlogic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmedto perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods,functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In suchembodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry 905 may includememory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM),anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc.in look-up-tables (LUTs) and the like.

The baseband circuitry 910 may be implemented, for example, as asolder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, asingle packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or amulti-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Thevarious hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry 910 arediscussed infra with regard to FIG. 11.

User interface circuitry 950 may include one or more user interfacesdesigned to enable user interaction with the system 900 or peripheralcomponent interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interactionwith the system 900. User interfaces may include, but are not limitedto, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), oneor more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physicalkeyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, speakers orother audio emitting devices, microphones, a printer, a scanner, aheadset, a display screen or display device, etc. Peripheral componentinterfaces may include, but are not limited to, a nonvolatile memoryport, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supplyinterface, etc.

The radio front end modules (RFEMs) 915 may comprise a millimeter wave(mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integratedcircuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWaveRFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs mayinclude connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g.,antenna array 1111 of FIG. 11 infra), and the RFEM may be connected tomultiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both mmWave andsub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM915, which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.

The memory circuitry 920 may include one or more of volatile memoryincluding dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamicrandom access memory (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) includinghigh-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flashmemory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistiverandom access memory (MRAM), etc., and may incorporate thethree-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® andMicron®. Memory circuitry 920 may be implemented as one or more ofsolder down packaged integrated circuits, socketed memory modules andplug-in memory cards.

The PMIC 925 may include voltage regulators, surge protectors, poweralarm detection circuitry, and one or more backup power sources such asa battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuitry may detectone or more of brown out (under-voltage) and surge (over-voltage)conditions. The power tee circuitry 930 may provide for electrical powerdrawn from a network cable to provide both power supply and dataconnectivity to the infrastructure equipment 900 using a single cable.

The network controller circuitry 935 may provide connectivity to anetwork using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet,Ethernet over GRE Tunnels, Ethernet over Multiprotocol Label Switching(MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may beprovided to/from the infrastructure equipment 900 via network interfaceconnector 940 using a physical connection, which may be electrical(commonly referred to as a “copper interconnect”), optical, or wireless.The network controller circuitry 935 may include one or more dedicatedprocessors and/or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of theaforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the networkcontroller circuitry 935 may include multiple controllers to provideconnectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

The positioning circuitry 945 includes circuitry to receive and decodesignals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a globalnavigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satelliteconstellations (or GNSS) include United States' Global PositioningSystem (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the EuropeanUnion's Galileo system, China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, aregional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., Navigationwith Indian Constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System(QZSS), France's Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integratedby Satellite (DORIS), etc.), or the like. The positioning circuitry 945comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devicessuch as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like tofacilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of apositioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes.In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry 945 may include aMicro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (Micro-PNT) ICthat uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimationwithout GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry 945 may also be partof, or interact with, the baseband circuitry 910 and/or RFEMs 915 tocommunicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network.The positioning circuitry 945 may also provide position data and/or timedata to the application circuitry 905, which may use the data tosynchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN nodes 611,etc.), or the like.

The components shown by FIG. 9 may communicate with one another usinginterface circuitry, which may include any number of bus and/orinterconnect (IX) technologies such as industry standard architecture(ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI),peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe),or any number of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietarybus, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems maybe included, such as an I²C interface, an SPI interface, point to pointinterfaces, and a power bus, among others.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a platform 1000 (or “device 1000”) inaccordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, the computerplatform 1000 may be suitable for use as UEs 601 a, 601 b, 701,application servers 630, and/or any other element/device discussedherein. The platform 1000 may include any combinations of the componentsshown in the example. The components of platform 1000 may be implementedas integrated circuits (ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronicdevices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or acombination thereof adapted in the computer platform 1000, or ascomponents otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system.The block diagram of FIG. 10 is intended to show a high level view ofcomponents of the computer platform 1000. However, some of thecomponents shown may be omitted, additional components may be present,and different arrangement of the components shown may occur in otherimplementations.

Application circuitry 1005 includes circuitry such as, but not limitedto one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one ormore of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I²Cor universal programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer-countersincluding interval and watchdog timers, general purpose I/O, memory cardcontrollers such as SD MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces,and JTAG test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the applicationcircuitry 1005 may be coupled with or may include memory/storageelements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in thememory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems torun on the system 1000. In some implementations, the memory/storageelements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitablevolatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM,Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory devicetechnology, such as those discussed herein.

The processor(s) of application circuitry 905 may include, for example,one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one ormore GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, oneor more CISC processors, one or more DSP, one or more FPGAs, one or morePLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, amultithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embeddedprocessor, some other known processing element, or any suitablecombination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry 905may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller tooperate according to the various embodiments herein.

As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry 1005 may includean Intel® Architecture Core™ based processor, such as a Quark™, anAtom™, an i3, an i5, an i7, or an MCU-class processor, or another suchprocessor available from Intel® Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. Theprocessors of the application circuitry 1005 may also be one or more ofAdvanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s) or AcceleratedProcessing Units (APUs); A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple® Inc.,Snapdragon™ processor(s) from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc., TexasInstruments, Inc.® Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)™processor(s); a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such asMIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors;an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARMCortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family of processors; or the like. Insome implementations, the application circuitry 1005 may be a part of asystem on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry 1005 and othercomponents are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a singlepackage, such as the Edison™ or Galileo™ SoC boards from Intel®Corporation.

Additionally or alternatively, application circuitry 1005 may includecircuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more a field-programmabledevices (FPDs) such as FPGAs and the like; programmable logic devices(PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), andthe like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs(PSoCs); and the like. In such embodiments, the circuitry of applicationcircuitry 1005 may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and otherinterconnected resources that may be programmed to perform variousfunctions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of thevarious embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitryof application circuitry 1005 may include memory cells (e.g., erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory(e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used tostore logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up tables (LUTs)and the like.

The baseband circuitry 1010 may be implemented, for example, as asolder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, asingle packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or amulti-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Thevarious hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry 1010 arediscussed infra with regard to FIG. 11.

The RFEMs 1015 may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one ormore sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In someimplementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physicallyseparated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to oneor more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array 1111 of FIG.11 infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. Inalternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functionsmay be implemented in the same physical RFEM 1015, which incorporatesboth mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.

The memory circuitry 1020 may include any number and type of memorydevices used to provide for a given amount of system memory. Asexamples, the memory circuitry 1020 may include one or more of volatilememory including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and/orsynchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) includinghigh-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flashmemory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistiverandom access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuitry 1020 may bedeveloped in accordance with a Joint Electron Devices EngineeringCouncil (JEDEC) low power double data rate (LPDDR)-based design, such asLPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, or the like. Memory circuitry 1020 may beimplemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits,single die package (SDP), dual die package (DDP) or quad die package(Q17P), socketed memory modules, dual inline memory modules (DIMMs)including microDIMMs or MiniDIMMs, and/or soldered onto a motherboardvia a ball grid array (BGA). In low power implementations, the memorycircuitry 1020 may be on-die memory or registers associated with theapplication circuitry 1005. To provide for persistent storage ofinformation such as data, applications, operating systems and so forth,memory circuitry 1020 may include one or more mass storage devices,which may include, inter alia, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), harddisk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, resistance change memories, phase changememories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, among others. Forexample, the computer platform 1000 may incorporate thethree-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® andMicron®.

Removable memory circuitry 1023 may include devices, circuitry,enclosures/housings, ports or receptacles, etc. used to couple portabledata storage devices with the platform 1000. These portable data storagedevices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, forexample, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSDcards, xD picture cards, and the like), and USB flash drives, opticaldiscs, external HDDs, and the like.

The platform 1000 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) thatis used to connect external devices with the platform 1000. The externaldevices connected to the platform 1000 via the interface circuitryinclude sensor circuitry 1021 and electro-mechanical components (EMCs)1022, as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memorycircuitry 1023.

The sensor circuitry 1021 include devices, modules, or subsystems whosepurpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send theinformation (sensor data) about the detected events to some other adevice, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, interalia, inertia measurement units (IMUs) comprising accelerometers,gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) comprising 3-axisaccelerometers, 3-axis gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; level sensors;flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors;barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capturedevices (e.g., cameras or lensless apertures); light detection andranging (LiDAR) sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiationdetector and the like), depth sensors, ambient light sensors, ultrasonictransceivers; microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc.

EMCs 1022 include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is toenable platform 1000 to change its state, position, and/or orientation,or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Additionally, EMCs 1022may be configured to generate and send messages/signalling to othercomponents of the platform 1000 to indicate a current state of the EMCs1022. Examples of the EMCs 1022 include one or more power switches,relays including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid staterelays (SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), an audible soundgenerator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DC motors, steppermotors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks,and/or other like electro-mechanical components. In embodiments,platform 1000 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 1022 based onone or more captured events and/or instructions or control signalsreceived from a service provider and/or various clients.

In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect theplatform 1000 with positioning circuitry 1045. The positioning circuitry1045 includes circuitry to receive and decode signalstransmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples ofnavigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States'GPS, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo system, China'sBeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSSaugmentation system (e.g., NAVIC), Japan's QZSS, France's DORIS, etc.),or the like. The positioning circuitry 1045 comprises various hardwareelements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters,amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTAcommunications) to communicate with components of a positioning network,such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments,the positioning circuitry 1045 may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses amaster timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSSassistance. The positioning circuitry 1045 may also be part of, orinteract with, the baseband circuitry 910 and/or RFEMs 1015 tocommunicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network.The positioning circuitry 1045 may also provide position data and/ortime data to the application circuitry 1005, which may use the data tosynchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio basestations), for turn-by-turn navigation applications, or the like

In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect theplatform 1000 with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry 1040. NFCcircuitry 1040 is configured to provide contactless, short-rangecommunications based on radio frequency identification (RFID) standards,wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication betweenNFC circuitry 1040 and NFC-enabled devices external to the platform 1000(e.g., an “NFC touchpoint”). NFC circuitry 1040 comprises an NFCcontroller coupled with an antenna element and a processor coupled withthe NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip/IC providing NFCfunctionalities to the NFC circuitry 1040 by executing NFC controllerfirmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by theprocessor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmwaremay be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element toemit short-range RF signals. The RF signals may power a passive NFC tag(e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmitstored data to the NFC circuitry 1040, or initiate data transfer betweenthe NFC circuitry 1040 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphoneor an NFC-enabled POS terminal) that is proximate to the platform 1000.

The driver circuitry 1046 may include software and hardware elementsthat operate to control particular devices that are embedded in theplatform 1000, attached to the platform 1000, or otherwisecommunicatively coupled with the platform 1000. The driver circuitry1046 may include individual drivers allowing other components of theplatform 1000 to interact with or control various input/output (I/O)devices that may be present within, or connected to, the platform 1000.For example, driver circuitry 1046 may include a display driver tocontrol and allow access to a display device, a touchscreen driver tocontrol and allow access to a touchscreen interface of the platform1000, sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings of sensor circuitry 1021and control and allow access to sensor circuitry 1021, EMC drivers toobtain actuator positions of the EMCs 1022 and/or control and allowaccess to the EMCs 1022, a camera driver to control and allow access toan embedded image capture device, audio drivers to control and allowaccess to one or more audio devices.

The power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 1025 (also referred toas “power management circuitry 1025”) may manage power provided tovarious components of the platform 1000. In particular, with respect tothe baseband circuitry 1010, the PMIC 1025 may control power-sourceselection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion.The PMIC 1025 may often be included when the platform 1000 is capable ofbeing powered by a battery 1030, for example, when the device isincluded in a UE 601 a, 601 b, 701.

In some embodiments, the PMIC 1025 may control, or otherwise be part of,various power saving mechanisms of the platform 1000. For example, ifthe platform 1000 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is stillconnected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, thenit may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after aperiod of inactivity. During this state, the platform 1000 may powerdown for brief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is nodata traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the platform1000 may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects fromthe network and does not perform operations such as channel qualityfeedback, handover, etc. The platform 1000 goes into a very low powerstate and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up tolisten to the network and then powers down again. The platform 1000 maynot receive data in this state; in order to receive data, it musttransition back to RRC_Connected state. An additional power saving modemay allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longerthan a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). Duringthis time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and maypower down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a largedelay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

A battery 1030 may power the platform 1000, although in some examplesthe platform 1000 may be mounted deployed in a fixed location, and mayhave a power supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery 1030 maybe a lithium ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-airbattery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like.In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 1030may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

In some implementations, the battery 1030 may be a “smart battery,”which includes or is coupled with a Battery Management System (BMS) orbattery monitoring integrated circuitry. The BMS may be included in theplatform 1000 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 1030.The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 1030 toprovide failure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and thestate of function (SoF) of the battery 1030. The BMS may communicate theinformation of the battery 1030 to the application circuitry 1005 orother components of the platform 1000. The BMS may also include ananalog-to-digital (ADC) convertor that allows the application circuitry1005 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 1030 or the currentflow from the battery 1030. The battery parameters may be used todetermine actions that the platform 1000 may perform, such astransmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, and thelike.

A power block, or other power supply coupled to an electrical grid maybe coupled with the BMS to charge the battery 1030. In some examples,the power block XS30 may be replaced with a wireless power receiver toobtain the power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in thecomputer platform 1000. In these examples, a wireless battery chargingcircuit may be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuitschosen may depend on the size of the battery 1030, and thus, the currentrequired. The charging may be performed using the Airfuel standardpromulgated by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standardpromulgated by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence chargingstandard promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power, among others.

User interface circuitry 1050 includes various input/output (I/O)devices present within, or connected to, the platform 1000, and includesone or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with theplatform 1000 and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enableperipheral component interaction with the platform 1000. The userinterface circuitry 1050 includes input device circuitry and outputdevice circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for accepting an input including, inter alia, one or morephysical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard,keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset,and/or the like. The output device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for showing information or otherwise conveyinginformation, such as sensor readings, actuator position(s), or otherlike information. Output device circuitry may include any number and/orcombinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one ormore simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status indicators(e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs,or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g.,Liquid Chrystal Displays (LCD), LED displays, quantum dot displays,projectors, etc.), with the output of characters, graphics, multimediaobjects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation ofthe platform 1000. The output device circuitry may also include speakersor other audio emitting devices, printer(s), and/or the like. In someembodiments, the sensor circuitry 1021 may be used as the input devicecircuitry (e.g., an image capture device, motion capture device, or thelike) and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry(e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like). In anotherexample, NFC circuitry comprising an NFC controller coupled with anantenna element and a processing device may be included to readelectronic tags and/or connect with another NFC-enabled device.Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, anon-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power supplyinterface, etc.

Although not shown, the components of platform 1000 may communicate withone another using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, whichmay include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx,PCIe, a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or anynumber of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX,for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may beincluded, such as an I²C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-pointinterfaces, and a power bus, among others.

FIG. 11 illustrates example components of baseband circuitry 1110 andradio front end modules (RFEM) 1115 in accordance with variousembodiments. The baseband circuitry 1110 corresponds to the basebandcircuitry 910 and 1010 of FIGS. 9 and 10, respectively. The RFEM 1115corresponds to the RFEM 915 and 1015 of FIGS. 9 and 10, respectively. Asshown, the RFEMs 1115 may include Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 1106,front-end module (FEM) circuitry 1108, antenna array 1111 coupledtogether at least as shown.

The baseband circuitry 1110 includes circuitry and/or control logicconfigured to carry out various radio/network protocol and radio controlfunctions that enable communication with one or more radio networks viathe RF circuitry 1106. The radio control functions may include, but arenot limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radiofrequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulationcircuitry of the baseband circuitry 1110 may include Fast-FourierTransform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demappingfunctionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of thebaseband circuitry 1110 may include convolution, tail-bitingconvolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC)encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulationand encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples andmay include other suitable functionality in other embodiments. Thebaseband circuitry 1110 is configured to process baseband signalsreceived from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1106 and togenerate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry1106. The baseband circuitry 1110 is configured to interface withapplication circuitry 905/1005 (see FIGS. 9 and 10) for generation andprocessing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of theRF circuitry 1106. The baseband circuitry 1110 may handle various radiocontrol functions.

The aforementioned circuitry and/or control logic of the basebandcircuitry 1110 may include one or more single or multi-core processors.For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G basebandprocessor 1104A, a 4G/LTE baseband processor 1104B, a 5G/NR basebandprocessor 1104C, or some other baseband processor(s) 1104D for otherexisting generations, generations in development or to be developed inthe future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments,some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 1104A-D may beincluded in modules stored in the memory 1104G and executed via aCentral Processing Unit (CPU) 1104E. In other embodiments, some or allof the functionality of baseband processors 1104A-D may be provided ashardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with theappropriate bit streams or logic blocks stored in respective memorycells. In various embodiments, the memory 1104G may store program codeof a real-time OS (RTOS), which when executed by the CPU 1104E (or otherbaseband processor), is to cause the CPU 1104E (or other basebandprocessor) to manage resources of the baseband circuitry 1110, scheduletasks, etc. Examples of the RTOS may include Operating System Embedded(OSE)™ provided by Enea®, Nucleus RTOS™ provided by Mentor Graphics®,Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Mentor Graphics®,ThreadX™ provided by Express Logic®, FreeRTOS, REX OS provided byQualcomm®, OKL4 provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs®, or any othersuitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the basebandcircuitry 1110 includes one or more audio digital signal processor(s)(DSP) 1104F. The audio DSP(s) 1104F include elements forcompression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include othersuitable processing elements in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, each of the processors 1104A-1104E includerespective memory interfaces to send/receive data to/from the memory1104G. The baseband circuitry 1110 may further include one or moreinterfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, suchas an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to thebaseband circuitry 1110; an application circuitry interface tosend/receive data to/from the application circuitry 905/1005 of FIGS.9-11); an RF circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from RFcircuitry 1106 of FIG. 11; a wireless hardware connectivity interface tosend/receive data to/from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g.,Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® LowEnergy components, Wi-Fi® components, and/or the like); and a powermanagement interface to send/receive power or control signals to/fromthe PMIC 1025.

In alternate embodiments (which may be combined with the above describedembodiments), baseband circuitry 1110 comprises one or more digitalbaseband systems, which are coupled with one another via an interconnectsubsystem and to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interfacesubsystem. The digital baseband subsystems may also be coupled to adigital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem viaanother interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems mayinclude a bus system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC)structures, and/or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology,such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include DSPcircuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing acceleratorcircuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital anddigital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog circuitry including one ormore of amplifiers and filters, and/or other like components. In anaspect of the present disclosure, baseband circuitry 1110 may includeprotocol processing circuitry with one or more instances of controlcircuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the digitalbaseband circuitry and/or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the radiofront end modules 1115).

Although not shown by FIG. f11 s, in some embodiments, the basebandcircuitry 1110 includes individual processing device(s) to operate oneor more wireless communication protocols (e.g., a “multi-protocolbaseband processor” or “protocol processing circuitry”) and individualprocessing device(s) to implement PHY layer functions. In theseembodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radiocontrol functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processingcircuitry operates or implements various protocol layers/entities of oneor more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, theprotocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or5G/NR protocol entities when the baseband circuitry 1110 and/or RFcircuitry 1106 are part of mmWave communication circuitry or some othersuitable cellular communication circuitry. In the first example, theprotocol processing circuitry would operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC,and NAS functions. In a second example, the protocol processingcircuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols when the basebandcircuitry 1110 and/or RF circuitry 1106 are part of a Wi-Ficommunication system. In the second example, the protocol processingcircuitry would operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC)functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or morememory structures (e.g., 1104G) to store program code and data foroperating the protocol functions, as well as one or more processingcores to execute the program code and perform various operations usingthe data. The baseband circuitry 1110 may also support radiocommunications for more than one wireless protocol.

The various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry 1110 discussedherein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrateincluding one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged ICsoldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing twoor more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuitry1110 may be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset, or disposedon a same circuit board. In another example, some or all of theconstituent components of the baseband circuitry 1110 and RF circuitry1106 may be implemented together such as, for example, a system on achip (SoC) or System-in-Package (SiP). In another example, some or allof the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 1110 may beimplemented as a separate SoC that is communicatively coupled with andRF circuitry 1106 (or multiple instances of RF circuitry 1106). In yetanother example, some or all of the constituent components of thebaseband circuitry 1110 and the application circuitry 905/1005 may beimplemented together as individual SoCs mounted to a same circuit board(e.g., a “multi-chip package”).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1110 may provide forcommunication compatible with one or more radio technologies. Forexample, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1110 may supportcommunication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a WPAN. Embodimentsin which the baseband circuitry 1110 is configured to support radiocommunications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to asmulti-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 1106 may enable communication with wireless networks usingmodulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious embodiments, the RF circuitry 1106 may include switches,filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with thewireless network. RF circuitry 1106 may include a receive signal path,which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from theFEM circuitry 1108 and provide baseband signals to the basebandcircuitry 1110. RF circuitry 1106 may also include a transmit signalpath, which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signalsprovided by the baseband circuitry 1110 and provide RF output signals tothe FEM circuitry 1108 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1106may include mixer circuitry 1106 a, amplifier circuitry 1106 b andfilter circuitry 1106 c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal pathof the RF circuitry 1106 may include filter circuitry 1106 c and mixercircuitry 1106 a. RF circuitry 1106 may also include synthesizercircuitry 1106 d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixercircuitry 1106 a of the receive signal path and the transmit signalpath. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1106 a of the receivesignal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received fromthe FEM circuitry 1108 based on the synthesized frequency provided bysynthesizer circuitry 1106 d. The amplifier circuitry 1106 b may beconfigured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filtercircuitry 1106 c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter(BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-convertedsignals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals maybe provided to the baseband circuitry 1110 for further processing. Insome embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequencybaseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In someembodiments, mixer circuitry 1106 a of the receive signal path maycomprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is notlimited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1106 a of the transmit signalpath may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on thesynthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 1106 d togenerate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 1108. The basebandsignals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 1110 and may befiltered by filter circuitry 1106 c.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1106 a of the receive signalpath and the mixer circuitry 1106 a of the transmit signal path mayinclude two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadraturedownconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, themixer circuitry 1106 a of the receive signal path and the mixercircuitry 1106 a of the transmit signal path may include two or moremixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley imagerejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1106 a of thereceive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1106 a of the transmitsignal path may be arranged for direct downconversion and directupconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry1106 a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1106 a of thetransmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternateembodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signalsmay be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RFcircuitry 1106 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry1110 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RFcircuitry 1106.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may beprovided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1106 d may be afractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although thescope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other typesof frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizercircuitry 1106 d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequencymultiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with afrequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 1106 d may be configured to synthesize anoutput frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 1106 a of the RFcircuitry 1106 based on a frequency input and a divider control input.In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1106 d may be afractional N/N+1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltagecontrolled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Dividercontrol input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 1110 orthe application circuitry 905/1005 depending on the desired outputfrequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may bedetermined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by theapplication circuitry 905/1005.

Synthesizer circuitry 1106 d of the RF circuitry 1106 may include adivider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phaseaccumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulusdivider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phaseaccumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured todivide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out)to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, theDLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phasedetector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments,the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Ndequal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in thedelay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to helpensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 1106 d may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in otherembodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrierfrequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrierfrequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and dividercircuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency withmultiple different phases with respect to each other. In someembodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In someembodiments, the RF circuitry 1106 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 1108 may include a receive signal path, which may includecircuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antennaarray 1111, amplify the received signals and provide the amplifiedversions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1106 for furtherprocessing. FEM circuitry 1108 may also include a transmit signal path,which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals fortransmission provided by the RF circuitry 1106 for transmission by oneor more of antenna elements of antenna array 1111. In variousembodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signalpaths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 1106, solely in the FEMcircuitry 1108, or in both the RF circuitry 1106 and the FEM circuitry1108.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 1108 may include a TX/RX switchto switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 1108 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 1108 may include anLNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RFsignals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 1106). The transmitsignal path of the FEM circuitry 1108 may include a power amplifier (PA)to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 1106), andone or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmissionby one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 1111.

The antenna array 1111 comprises one or more antenna elements, each ofwhich is configured convert electrical signals into radio waves totravel through the air and to convert received radio waves intoelectrical signals. For example, digital baseband signals provided bythe baseband circuitry 1110 is converted into analog RF signals (e.g.,modulated waveform) that will be amplified and transmitted via theantenna elements of the antenna array 1111 including one or more antennaelements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional,direction, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formedin a multitude of arranges as are known and/or discussed herein. Theantenna array 1111 may comprise microstrip antennas or printed antennasthat are fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuitboards. The antenna array 1111 may be formed in as a patch of metal foil(e.g., a patch antenna) in a variety of shapes, and may be coupled withthe RF circuitry 1106 and/or FEM circuitry 1108 using metal transmissionlines or the like.

Processors of the application circuitry 905/1005 and processors of thebaseband circuitry 1110 may be used to execute elements of one or moreinstances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the basebandcircuitry 1110, alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3,Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the applicationcircuitry 905/1005 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received fromthese layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., TCP andUDP layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a RRC layer,described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 maycomprise a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described infurther detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a PHYlayer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

FIG. 12 illustrates various protocol functions that may be implementedin a wireless communication device according to various embodiments. Inparticular, FIG. 12 includes an arrangement 1200 showinginterconnections between various protocol layers/entities. The followingdescription of FIG. 12 is provided for various protocol layers/entitiesthat operate in conjunction with the 5G/NR system standards and LTEsystem standards, but some or all of the aspects of FIG. 12 may beapplicable to other wireless communication network systems as well.

The protocol layers of arrangement 1200 may include one or more of PHY1210, MAC 1220, RLC 1230, PDCP 1240, SDAP 1247, RRC 1255, and NAS layer1257, in addition to other higher layer functions not illustrated. Theprotocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g.,items 1259, 1256, 1250, 1249, 1245, 1235, 1225, and 1215 in FIG. 12)that may provide communication between two or more protocol layers.

The PHY 1210 may transmit and receive physical layer signals 1205 thatmay be received from or transmitted to one or more other communicationdevices. The physical layer signals 1205 may comprise one or morephysical channels, such as those discussed herein. The PHY 1210 mayfurther perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC),power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization andhandover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, suchas the RRC 1255. The PHY 1210 may still further perform error detectionon the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC)coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation ofphysical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physicalchannels, and MIMO antenna processing. In embodiments, an instance ofPHY 1210 may process requests from and provide indications to aninstance of MAC 1220 via one or more PHY-SAP 1215. According to someembodiments, requests and indications communicated via PHY-SAP 1215 maycomprise one or more transport channels.

Instance(s) of MAC 1220 may process requests from, and provideindications to, an instance of RLC 1230 via one or more MAC-SAPs 1225.These requests and indications communicated via the MAC-SAP 1225 maycomprise one or more logical channels. The MAC 1220 may perform mappingbetween the logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MACSDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY1210 via the transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or morelogical channels from TBs delivered from the PHY 1210 via transportchannels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling informationreporting, error correction through HARQ, and logical channelprioritization.

Instance(s) of RLC 1230 may process requests from and provideindications to an instance of PDCP 1240 via one or more radio linkcontrol service access points (RLC-SAP) 1235. These requests andindications communicated via RLC-SAP 1235 may comprise one or more RLCchannels. The RLC 1230 may operate in a plurality of modes of operation,including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), andAcknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC 1230 may execute transfer of upper layerprotocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeatrequest (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation andreassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. The RLC 1230 mayalso execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers,reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicatedata for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM datatransfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLCre-establishment.

Instance(s) of PDCP 1240 may process requests from and provideindications to instance(s) of RRC 1255 and/or instance(s) of SDAP 1247via one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points(PDCP-SAP) 1245. These requests and indications communicated viaPDCP-SAP 1245 may comprise one or more radio bearers. The PDCP 1240 mayexecute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCPSequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUsat re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layerSDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLCAM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protectionand integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-baseddiscard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering,deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

Instance(s) of SDAP 1247 may process requests from and provideindications to one or more higher layer protocol entities via one ormore SDAP-SAP 1249. These requests and indications communicated viaSDAP-SAP 1249 may comprise one or more QoS flows. The SDAP 1247 may mapQoS flows to DRBs, and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL and ULpackets. A single SDAP entity 1247 may be configured for an individualPDU session. In the UL direction, the NG-RAN 610 may control the mappingof QoS Flows to DRB(s) in two different ways, reflective mapping orexplicit mapping. For reflective mapping, the SDAP 1247 of a UE 601 maymonitor the QFIs of the DL packets for each DRB, and may apply the samemapping for packets flowing in the UL direction. For a DRB, the SDAP1247 of the UE 601 may map the UL packets belonging to the QoS flows(s)corresponding to the QoS flow ID(s) and PDU session observed in the DLpackets for that DRB. To enable reflective mapping, the NG-RAN 810 maymark DL packets over the Uu interface with a QoS flow ID. The explicitmapping may involve the RRC 1255 configuring the SDAP 1247 with anexplicit QoS flow to DRB mapping rule, which may be stored and followedby the SDAP 1247. In embodiments, the SDAP 1247 may only be used in NRimplementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

The RRC 1255 may configure, via one or more management service accesspoints (M-SAP), aspects of one or more protocol layers, which mayinclude one or more instances of PHY 1210, MAC 1220, RLC 1230, PDCP 1240and SDAP 1247. In embodiments, an instance of RRC 1255 may processrequests from and provide indications to one or more NAS entities 1257via one or more RRC-SAPs 1256. The main services and functions of theRRC 1255 may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included inMIBs or SIBs related to the NAS), broadcast of system informationrelated to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenanceand release of an RRC connection between the UE 601 and RAN 610 (e.g.,RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connectionmodification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration,maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, securityfunctions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurementconfiguration for UE measurement reporting. The MIBs and SIBs maycomprise one or more IEs, which may each comprise individual data fieldsor data structures.

The NAS 1257 may form the highest stratum of the control plane betweenthe UE 601 and the AMF 821. The NAS 1257 may support the mobility of theUEs 601 and the session management procedures to establish and maintainIP connectivity between the UE 601 and a P-GW in LTE systems.

According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities ofarrangement 1200 may be implemented in UEs 601, RAN nodes 611, AMF 821in NR implementations or MME 721 in LTE implementations, UPF 802 in NRimplementations or S-GW 722 and P-GW 723 in LTE implementations, or thelike to be used for control plane or user plane communications protocolstack between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one ormore protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 601,gNB 611, AMF 821, etc. may communicate with a respective peer protocolentity that may be implemented in or on another device using theservices of respective lower layer protocol entities to perform suchcommunication. In some embodiments, a gNB-CU of the gNB 611 may host theRRC 1255, SDAP 1247, and PDCP 1240 of the gNB that controls theoperation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of the gNB 611 mayeach host the RLC 1230, MAC 1220, and PHY 1210 of the gNB 611.

In a first example, a control plane protocol stack may comprise, inorder from highest layer to lowest layer, NAS 1257, RRC 1255, PDCP 1240,RLC 1230, MAC 1220, and PHY 1210. In this example, upper layers 1260 maybe built on top of the NAS 1257, which includes an IP layer 1261, anSCTP 1262, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 1263.

In NR implementations, the AP 1263 may be an NG application protocollayer (NGAP or NG-AP) 1263 for the NG interface 613 defined between theNG-RAN node 611 and the AMF 821, or the AP 1263 may be an Xn applicationprotocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 1263 for the Xn interface 612 that isdefined between two or more RAN nodes 611.

The NG-AP 1263 may support the functions of the NG interface 613 and maycomprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An NG-AP EP may be a unit ofinteraction between the NG-RAN node 611 and the AMF 821. The NG-AP 1263services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., servicesrelated to a UE 601 a, 601 b) and non-UE-associated services (e.g.,services related to the whole NG interface instance between the NG-RANnode 611 and AMF 821). These services may include functions including,but not limited to: a paging function for the sending of paging requeststo NG-RAN nodes 611 involved in a particular paging area; a UE contextmanagement function for allowing the AMF 821 to establish, modify,and/or release a UE context in the AMF 821 and the NG-RAN node 611; amobility function for UEs 601 in ECM-CONNECTED mode for intra-system HOsto support mobility within NG-RAN and inter-system HOs to supportmobility from/to EPS systems; a NAS Signaling Transport function fortransporting or rerouting NAS messages between UE 601 and AMF 821; a NASnode selection function for determining an association between the AMF821 and the UE 601; NG interface management function(s) for setting upthe NG interface and monitoring for errors over the NG interface; awarning message transmission function for providing means to transferwarning messages via NG interface or cancel ongoing broadcast of warningmessages; a Configuration Transfer function for requesting andtransferring of RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information,performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 611 viaCN 620; and/or other like functions.

The XnAP 1263 may support the functions of the Xn interface 612 and maycomprise XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. TheXnAP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UEmobility within the NG RAN 611 (or E-UTRAN 710), such as handoverpreparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures,UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN pagingprocedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like. The XnAPglobal procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to aspecific UE 601, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RANupdate procedures, cell activation procedures, and the like.

In LTE implementations, the AP 1263 may be an S1 Application Protocollayer (S1-AP) 1263 for the S1 interface 613 defined between an E-UTRANnode 611 and an MME, or the AP 1263 may be an X2 application protocollayer (X2AP or X2-AP) 1263 for the X2 interface 612 that is definedbetween two or more E-UTRAN nodes 611.

The S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP) 1263 may support the functionsof the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, theS1-AP may comprise S1-AP EPs. An S1-AP EP may be a unit of interactionbetween the E-UTRAN node 611 and an MME 721 within an LTE CN 620. TheS1-AP 1263 services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services andnon UE-associated services. These services perform functions including,but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UEcapability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RANInformation Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

The X2AP 1263 may support the functions of the X2 interface 612 and maycomprise X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. TheX2AP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UEmobility within the E-UTRAN 620, such as handover preparation andcancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE contextretrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dualconnectivity related procedures, and the like. The X2AP globalprocedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE601, such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indicationprocedures, error indication procedures, cell activation procedures, andthe like.

The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer) 1262 mayprovide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP orXnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTEimplementations). The SCTP 1262 may ensure reliable delivery ofsignaling messages between the RAN node 611 and the AMF 821/MME 721based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP 1261. TheInternet Protocol layer (IP) 1261 may be used to perform packetaddressing and routing functionality. In some implementations the IPlayer 1261 may use point-to-point transmission to deliver and conveyPDUs. In this regard, the RAN node 611 may comprise L2 and L1 layercommunication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME/AMF toexchange information.

In a second example, a user plane protocol stack may comprise, in orderfrom highest layer to lowest layer, SDAP 1247, PDCP 1240, RLC 1230, MAC1220, and PHY 1210. The user plane protocol stack may be used forcommunication between the UE 601, the RAN node 611, and UPF 802 in NRimplementations or an S-GW 722 and P-GW 723 in LTE implementations. Inthis example, upper layers 1251 may be built on top of the SDAP 1247,and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer(UDP/IP) 1252, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocolfor the user plane layer (GTP-U) 1253, and a User Plane PDU layer (UPPDU) 1263.

The transport network layer 1254 (also referred to as a “transportlayer”) may be built on IP transport, and the GTP-U 1253 may be used ontop of the UDP/IP layer 1252 (comprising a UDP layer and IP layer) tocarry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs). The IP layer (also referred to as the“Internet layer”) may be used to perform packet addressing and routingfunctionality. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packetsin any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example.

The GTP-U 1253 may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS corenetwork and between the radio access network and the core network. Theuser data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPPformats, for example. The UDP/IP 1252 may provide checksums for dataintegrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the sourceand destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected dataflows. The RAN node 611 and the S-GW 722 may utilize an S1-U interfaceto exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer(e.g., PHY 1210), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 1220, RLC 1230, PDCP 1240,and/or SDAP 1247), the UDP/IP layer 1252, and the GTP-U 1253. The S-GW722 and the P-GW 723 may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange userplane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer, an L2 layer, theUDP/IP layer 1252, and the GTP-U 1253. As discussed previously, NASprotocols may support the mobility of the UE 601 and the sessionmanagement procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity betweenthe UE 601 and the P-GW 723.

Moreover, although not shown by FIG. 12, an application layer may bepresent above the AP 1263 and/or the transport network layer 1254. Theapplication layer may be a layer in which a user of the UE 601, RAN node611, or other network element interacts with software applications beingexecuted, for example, by application circuitry 905 or applicationcircuitry 1005, respectively. The application layer may also provide oneor more interfaces for software applications to interact withcommunications systems of the UE 601 or RAN node 611, such as thebaseband circuitry 1110. In some implementations the IP layer and/or theapplication layer may provide the same or similar functionality aslayers 5-7, or portions thereof, of the Open Systems Interconnection(OSI) model (e.g., OSI Layer 7—the application layer, OSI Layer 6—thepresentation layer, and OSI Layer 5—the session layer).

FIG. 13 illustrates components of a core network in accordance withvarious embodiments. The components of the CN 720 may be implemented inone physical node or separate physical nodes including components toread and execute instructions from a machine-readable orcomputer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium). In embodiments, the components of CN 820 may beimplemented in a same or similar manner as discussed herein with regardto the components of CN 720. In some embodiments, NFV is utilized tovirtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions viaexecutable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storagemediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation ofthe CN 720 may be referred to as a network slice 1301, and individuallogical instantiations of the CN 720 may provide specific networkcapabilities and network characteristics. A logical instantiation of aportion of the CN 720 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 1302(e.g., the network sub-slice 1302 is shown to include the P-GW 723 andthe PCRF 726).

As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the likemay refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer toa concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, duringexecution of program code. A network instance may refer to informationidentifying a domain, which may be used for traffic detection androuting in case of different IP domains or overlapping IP addresses. Anetwork slice instance may refer to a set of network functions (NFs)instances and the resources (e.g., compute, storage, and networkingresources) required to deploy the network slice.

With respect to 5G systems (see, e.g., FIG. 8), a network slice alwayscomprises a RAN part and a CN part. The support of network slicingrelies on the principle that traffic for different slices is handled bydifferent PDU sessions. The network can realize the different networkslices by scheduling and also by providing different L1/L2configurations. The UE 801 provides assistance information for networkslice selection in an appropriate RRC message, if it has been providedby NAS. While the network can support large number of slices, the UEneed not support more than 8 slices simultaneously.

A network slice may include the CN 820 control plane and user plane NFs,NG-RANs 810 in a serving PLMN, and a N3IWF functions in the servingPLMN. Individual network slices may have different S-NSSAI and/or mayhave different SSTs. NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, and eachnetwork slice is uniquely identified by an S-NSSAI. Network slices maydiffer for supported features and network functions optimizations,and/or multiple network slice instances may deliver the sameservice/features but for different groups of UEs 801 (e.g., enterpriseusers). For example, individual network slices may deliver differentcommitted service(s) and/or may be dedicated to a particular customer orenterprise. In this example, each network slice may have differentS-NSSAIs with the same SST but with different slice differentiators.Additionally, a single UE may be served with one or more network sliceinstances simultaneously via a 5G AN and associated with eight differentS-NSSAIs. Moreover, an AMF 821 instance serving an individual UE 801 maybelong to each of the network slice instances serving that UE.

Network Slicing in the NG-RAN 810 involves RAN slice awareness. RANslice awareness includes differentiated handling of traffic fordifferent network slices, which have been pre-configured. Sliceawareness in the NG-RAN 810 is introduced at the PDU session level byindicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to a PDU session in all signalingthat includes PDU session resource information. How the NG-RAN 810supports the slice enabling in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., the setof network functions that comprise each slice) is implementationdependent. The NG-RAN 810 selects the RAN part of the network sliceusing assistance information provided by the UE 801 or the 5GC 820,which unambiguously identifies one or more of the pre-configured networkslices in the PLMN. The NG-RAN 810 also supports resource management andpolicy enforcement between slices as per SLAs. A single NG-RAN node maysupport multiple slices, and the NG-RAN 810 may also apply anappropriate RRM policy for the SLA in place to each supported slice. TheNG-RAN 810 may also support QoS differentiation within a slice.

The NG-RAN 810 may also use the UE assistance information for theselection of an AMF 821 during an initial attach, if available. TheNG-RAN 810 uses the assistance information for routing the initial NASto an AMF 821. If the NG-RAN 810 is unable to select an AMF 821 usingthe assistance information, or the UE 801 does not provide any suchinformation, the NG-RAN 810 sends the NAS signaling to a default AMF821, which may be among a pool of AMFs 821. For subsequent accesses, theUE 801 provides a temp ID, which is assigned to the UE 801 by the 5GC820, to enable the NG-RAN 810 to route the NAS message to theappropriate AMF 821 as long as the temp ID is valid. The NG-RAN 810 isaware of, and can reach, the AMF 821 that is associated with the tempID. Otherwise, the method for initial attach applies.

The NG-RAN 810 supports resource isolation between slices. NG-RAN 810resource isolation may be achieved by means of RRM policies andprotection mechanisms that should avoid that shortage of sharedresources if one slice breaks the service level agreement for anotherslice. In some implementations, it is possible to fully dedicate NG-RAN810 resources to a certain slice. How NG-RAN 810 supports resourceisolation is implementation dependent.

Some slices may be available only in part of the network. Awareness inthe NG-RAN 810 of the slices supported in the cells of its neighbors maybe beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. The sliceavailability may not change within the UE's registration area. TheNG-RAN 810 and the 5GC 820 are responsible to handle a service requestfor a slice that may or may not be available in a given area. Admissionor rejection of access to a slice may depend on factors such as supportfor the slice, availability of resources, support of the requestedservice by NG-RAN 810.

The UE 801 may be associated with multiple network slicessimultaneously. In case the UE 801 is associated with multiple slicessimultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained, and forintra-frequency cell reselection, the UE 801 tries to camp on the bestcell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities can beused to control the frequency on which the UE 801 camps. The 5GC 820 isto validate that the UE 801 has the rights to access a network slice.Prior to receiving an Initial Context Setup Request message, the NG-RAN810 may be allowed to apply some provisional/local policies, based onawareness of a particular slice that the UE 801 is requesting to access.During the initial context setup, the NG-RAN 810 is informed of theslice for which resources are being requested.

NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one ormore NFs, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physicalresources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware,storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be usedto execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPCcomponents/functions.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, of a system 1400 to support NFV. The system 1400 isillustrated as including a VIM 1402, an NFVI 1404, an VNFM 1406, VNFs1408, an EM 1410, an NFVO 1412, and a NM 1414.

The VIM 1402 manages the resources of the NFVI 1404. The NFVI 1404 caninclude physical or virtual resources and applications (includinghypervisors) used to execute the system 1400. The VIM 1402 may managethe life cycle of virtual resources with the NFVI 1404 (e.g., creation,maintenance, and tear down of VMs associated with one or more physicalresources), track VM instances, track performance, fault and security ofVM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instancesand associated physical resources to other management systems.

The VNFM 1406 may manage the VNFs 1408. The VNFs 1408 may be used toexecute EPC components/functions. The VNFM 1406 may manage the lifecycle of the VNFs 1408 and track performance, fault and security of thevirtual aspects of VNFs 1408. The EM 1410 may track the performance,fault and security of the functional aspects of VNFs 1408. The trackingdata from the VNFM 1406 and the EM 1410 may comprise, for example, PMdata used by the VIM 1402 or the NFVI 1404. Both the VNFM 1406 and theEM 1410 can scale up/down the quantity of VNFs of the system 1400.

The NFVO 1412 may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources ofthe NFVI 1404 in order to provide the requested service (e.g., toexecute an EPC function, component, or slice). The NM 1414 may provide apackage of end-user functions with the responsibility for the managementof a network, which may include network elements with VNFs,non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of the VNFs mayoccur via the EM 1410).

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readableor computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 15 shows a diagrammaticrepresentation of hardware resources 1500 including one or moreprocessors (or processor cores) 1510, one or more memory/storage devices1520, and one or more communication resources 1530, each of which may becommunicatively coupled via a bus 1540. For embodiments where nodevirtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1502 may beexecuted to provide an execution environment for one or more networkslices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1500.

The processors 1510 may include, for example, a processor 1512 and aprocessor 1514. The processor(s) 1510 may be, for example, a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC)processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, agraphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, anASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), anotherprocessor (including those discussed herein), or any suitablecombination thereof.

The memory/storage devices 1520 may include main memory, disk storage,or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1520 mayinclude, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or nonvolatilememory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random accessmemory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flashmemory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 1530 may include interconnection or networkinterface components or other suitable devices to communicate with oneor more peripheral devices 1504 or one or more databases 1506 via anetwork 1508. For example, the communication resources 1530 may includewired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellularcommunication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® LowEnergy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communicationcomponents.

Instructions 1550 may comprise software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of theprocessors 1510 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. The instructions 1550 may reside, completely orpartially, within at least one of the processors 1510 (e.g., within theprocessor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1520, or anysuitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of theinstructions 1550 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1500 fromany combination of the peripheral devices 1504 or the databases 1506.Accordingly, the memory of processors 1510, the memory/storage devices1520, the peripheral devices 1504, and the databases 1506 are examplesof computer-readable and machine-readable media.

For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth inone or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one ormore operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth inthe example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry asdescribed above in connection with one or more of the preceding figuresmay be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of theexamples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated witha UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above inconnection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configuredto operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forthbelow in the example section.

In some embodiments, the electronic device(s), network(s), system(s),chip(s) or component(s), or portions or implementations thereof, ofFIGS. 6-15, or some other figure herein, may be configured to performone or more processes, techniques, or methods as described herein, orportions thereof. One such process is depicted in FIG. 16. FIG. 16illustrates a flowchart 1600 that describes a base station, such as RANnode 611, AP 606, E-UTRAN 710, RAN 810, infrastructure equipment 900,for generating and using slot format indicator (SFI) and channeloccupancy time (COT) structure in new radio (NR) systems operating onunlicensed spectrum, according to embodiments of the disclosure. Inembodiments, the flowchart 1600 can be performed or controlled by aprocessor or processor circuitry described in the various embodimentsherein, including the processor shown in FIG. 15, and/or the applicationcircuitry 905 or 1005, and/or baseband circuitry 910 or 1010 shown inFIGS. 9-10.

At 1602, a slot format indicator (SFI) associated with a channeloccupancy time (COT) structure is generated. For example, a base stationgenerates the slot format indicator (SFI) associated with the channeloccupancy time (COT) structure. According to some embodiments, the SFIindicates whether one or more slots associated with the COT structureare to be used for downlink (DL) symbols, uplink (UL) symbols, orflexible symbols. The flexible symbols can form one or more gaps in theCOT structure in response to the flexible symbols not being overriddenas a DL transmission or a UL transmission.

According to some embodiments, a duration of the one or more gaps iscounted toward a duration of the COT structure in response to theduration of the one or more gaps being less than or equal to athreshold. Alternatively, the duration of the one or more gaps is notcounted toward the duration of the COT structure in response to theduration of the one or more gaps being greater than the threshold.

At 1604, the SFI is transmitted to a user equipment (UE). For example,the base station transmits the SFI to the UE. The UE can use the SFI forsubsequently transmitting of the UL symbols or receiving of the DLsymbols between the base station and UE.

Examples

Example 1 may include details on the structure of a gNB's acquiredshared COT.

Example 2 may include the method of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein in SFI indication of a COT, ‘D’ is for DL transmission,‘U’ is for UL transmission, and ‘F’ forms one or more gaps if the ‘F’symbol is/are not overridden as DL or UL transmission.

Example 3 may include the method of example 2 or some other exampleherein, wherein only ‘F’ symbols overridden as DL or UL transmission iscounted toward the duration of the total COT.

Example 4 may include the method of example 2 or some other exampleherein, wherein CG PUSCH could be handled by one of the following, CGPUSCH is allowed in a slot only when all symbols are indicated as ‘F’ inSFI; or CG PUSCH is allowed in time resource indicated as ‘F’ symbols inSFI; or if COT sharing is allowed for CG PUSCH, CG PUSCH is allowed intime-domain resources indicated as ‘F’ and ‘U’ symbols in SFI.

Example 5 may include the method of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein the COT contains a first part of time resource used forDL and UL data transmission indicated by SFI, followed by a second partused for DRS only transmission, with a gap of variable length betweenthe two parts.

Example 6 may include the method of example 5 or some other exampleherein, wherein to count the duration of COT by one of the following,whole length of DRS window; or, only time period of one DRS occasion;or, only the period of the candidate DRS occasions.

Example 7 may include the method of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein gNB adds or removes a subband during the COT withmultiple switching points.

Example 8 may include the method of example 7 or some other exampleherein, wherein in a SB where LBT is not successful, gNB could perform anew CAT-4 LBT or continue an ongoing CAT-4 LBT or do CAT-2 LBT justbefore the switching point from UL to DL.

Example 9 may include the method of example 7 or some other exampleherein, wherein if a SB is added to the COT, COT duration is limited bythe SB where LBT is successful in the beginning; or an independent COTis started.

Example 10 may include the method of example 7 or some other exampleherein, wherein UE doesn't transmit uplink transmission if any SB failsin LBT, or UE transmits UL transmission on the SBs where LBT issuccessful.

Example 11 may include the method of example 7 or some other exampleherein, wherein in a SB where LBT is not successful, UE transmits CGPUSCH if COT is shared to UL.

Example 12 may include the method of example 7 or some other exampleherein, wherein gNB could schedule a PUSCH by CAT-4 if PUSCH is transmiton at least one SB where LBT is not successful.

Example 13 may include the method of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein a specific SB is used as a anchor SB, which alwayscarries information related to the TX bandwidth.

Example 14 may include the method of examples 1 and 13 or some otherexample herein, wherein SB setX shall always contain the anchor SB for agNB to be allowed to transmit within the SB setX.

Example 15 may include the method of examples 1, and 13-14 or some otherexample herein, wherein one or multiple anchor SBs can be defined.

Example 16 may include the method of examples 1 and 13-15 or some otherexample herein, wherein in one embodiment, the anchor SB used iscell-specific or depends on the particular channel raster used so thatto limit the amount of potential interference on the anchor SB.

Example 17 may include the method of examples 1 and 13-16 or some otherexample herein, wherein DCI 2_0 provides either separate or jointlyindication of the TX bandwidth and specific bandwidth used (specific 20MHz units used) by the gNB.

Example 18 may include the method of examples 1 and 13-17 or some otherexample herein, wherein the DCI 2_0 with indication of the TX bandwidthis transmitted in all the SBs belonging to the SB setX through afrequency-domain repetition, or only on the anchor SB.

Example 19 may include the method of claim 18, the transmission of thecontrol information is performed over X symbols, before the gNB startstransmitting over the whole bandwidth available without any frequencydomain repetitions in units of sub-bands. In this case, the UE is set toperform reception over 20 MHz band, until it is able to perform RFretuning and be able to receive over the whole TX bandwidth.

Example 20 may include the method of example 1 and 13-19 or some otherexample herein, wherein the indication of the TX bandwidth can beprovided through a bitmap, which indicates explicitly which SBs areused: the MSB may indicate the highest sub-band, and the LSB mayindicate the lowest sub-band or vice versa, where the sub-bands may benumbered in a hierarchical order (i.e. sequentially starting from theupper band edge or the lower band edge) while indicating via bitmap.

Example 21 may include the method of examples 1 and 13-20 or some otherexample herein, the UE always monitors at the beginning of each DL burstthe anchor SB to retrieve information related to the TX bandwidth used:the UE expects the transmission of the control information whichcontains indication of its TX bandwidth on a specific sub-band, or groupof sub-bands.

Example 22 may include the method of examples 1 and 13-21 or some otherexample herein, if the LBT succeeds over a number of non-contiguous SBs,the transmitter may only use the consecutive SB(s) closest to the upperedge or the lower edge of the band, in order to avoid any complexdecoder implementations at the receiver side and limit memoryutilization, and leave the other bands (not contiguous with the chosenband) unused, even if LBT succeeded over them.

Example 23 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one ormore elements of a method described in or related to any of examples1-22, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 24 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, uponexecution of the instructions by one or more processors of theelectronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method describedin or related to any of examples 1-22, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 25 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, orcircuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in orrelated to any of examples 1-22, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 26 may include a method, technique, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-22, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 27 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processorsand one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-22, or portions thereof.

Example 28 may include a signal as described in or related to any ofexamples 1-22, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 29 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown anddescribed herein.

Example 30 may include a method of communicating in a wireless networkas shown and described herein.

Example 31 may include a system for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 32 may include a device for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any otherexample (or combination of examples), unless explicitly statedotherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementationsprovides illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise formdisclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of theabove teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Abbreviations

For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviationsmay apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein, but are notmeant to be limiting.

-   -   3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project    -   4G Fourth Generation    -   5G Fifth Generation    -   5GC 5G Core network    -   ACK Acknowledgement    -   AF Application Function    -   AM Acknowledged Mode    -   AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate    -   AMF Access and Mobility Management Function    -   AN Access Network    -   ANR Automatic Neighbour Relation    -   AP Application Protocol, Antenna Port, Access Point    -   API Application Programming Interface    -   APN Access Point Name    -   ARP Allocation and Retention Priority    -   ARQ Automatic Repeat Request    -   AS Access Stratum    -   ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation One    -   AUSF Authentication Server Function    -   AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise    -   BCH Broadcast Channel    -   BER Bit Error Ratio    -   BFD Beam Failure Detection    -   BLER Block Error Rate    -   BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying    -   BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server    -   BSS Business Support System    -   BS Base Station    -   BSR Buffer Status Report    -   BW Bandwidth    -   BWP Bandwidth Part    -   C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity    -   CA Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority    -   CAPEX CAPital EXpenditure    -   CBRA Contention Based Random Access    -   CC Component Carrier, Country Code, Cryptographic Checksum    -   CCA Clear Channel Assessment    -   CCE Control Channel Element    -   CCCH Common Control Channel    -   CE Coverage Enhancement    -   CDM Content Delivery Network    -   CDMA Code-Division Multiple Access    -   CFRA Contention Free Random Access    -   CG Cell Group    -   CI Cell Identity    -   CID Cell-ID (e.g., positioning method)    -   CIM Common Information Model    -   CIR Carrier to Interference Ratio    -   CK Cipher Key    -   CM Connection Management, Conditional Mandatory    -   CMAS Commercial Mobile Alert Service    -   CMD Command    -   CMS Cloud Management System    -   CO Conditional Optional    -   CoMP Coordinated Multi-Point    -   CORESET Control Resource Set    -   COTS Commercial Off-The-Shelf    -   CP Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Connection Point    -   CPD Connection Point Descriptor    -   CPE Customer Premise Equipment    -   CPICH Common Pilot Channel    -   CQI Channel Quality Indicator    -   CPU CSI processing unit, Central Processing Unit    -   C/R Command/Response field bit    -   CRAN Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN    -   CRB Common Resource Block    -   CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check    -   CRI Channel-State Information Resource Indicator, CSI-RS        Resource Indicator    -   C-RNTI Cell RNTI    -   CS Circuit Switched    -   CSAR Cloud Service Archive    -   CSI Channel-State Information    -   CSI-IM CSI Interference Measurement    -   CSI-RS CSI Reference Signal    -   CSI-RSRP CSI reference signal received power    -   CSI-RSRQ CSI reference signal received quality    -   CSI-SINR CSI signal-to-noise and interference ratio    -   CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access    -   CSMA/CA CSMA with collision avoidance    -   CSS Common Search Space, Cell-specific Search Space    -   CTS Clear-to-Send    -   CW Codeword    -   CWS Contention Window Size    -   D2D Device-to-Device    -   DC Dual Connectivity, Direct Current    -   DCI Downlink Control Information    -   DF Deployment Flavour    -   DL Downlink    -   DMTF Distributed Management Task Force    -   DPDK Data Plane Development Kit    -   DM-RS, DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal    -   DN Data network    -   DRB Data Radio Bearer    -   DRS Discovery Reference Signal    -   DRX Discontinuous Reception    -   DSL Domain Specific Language. Digital Subscriber Line    -   DSLAM DSL Access Multiplexer    -   DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot    -   E-LAN Ethernet Local Area Network    -   E2E End-to-End    -   ECCA extended clear channel assessment, extended CCA    -   ECCE Enhanced Control Channel Element, Enhanced CCE    -   ED Energy Detection    -   EDGE Enhanced Datarates for GSM Evolution (GSM Evolution)    -   EGMF Exposure Governance Management Function    -   EGPRS Enhanced GPRS    -   EIR Equipment Identity Register    -   eLAA enhanced Licensed Assisted Access, enhanced LAA    -   EM Element Manager    -   eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband    -   EMS Element Management System    -   eNB evolved NodeB, E-UTRAN Node B    -   EN-DC E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity    -   EPC Evolved Packet Core    -   EPDCCH enhanced PDCCH, enhanced Physical Downlink Control Cannel    -   EPRE Energy per resource element    -   EPS Evolved Packet System    -   EREG enhanced REG, enhanced resource element groups    -   ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute    -   ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System    -   eUICC embedded UICC, embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card    -   E-UTRA Evolved UTRA    -   E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN    -   EV2X Enhanced V2X    -   F1AP F1 Application Protocol    -   F1-C F1 Control plane interface    -   F1-U F1 User plane interface    -   FACCH Fast Associated Control CHannel    -   FACCH/F Fast Associated Control Channel/Full rate    -   FACCH/H Fast Associated Control Channel/Half rate    -   FACH Forward Access Channel    -   FAUSCH Fast Uplink Signalling Channel    -   FB Functional Block    -   FBI Feedback Information    -   FCC Federal Communications Commission    -   FCCH Frequency Correction CHannel    -   FDD Frequency Division Duplex    -   FDM Frequency Division Multiplex    -   FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access    -   FE Front End    -   FEC Forward Error Correction    -   FFS For Further Study    -   FFT Fast Fourier Transformation    -   feLAA further enhanced Licensed Assisted Access, further        enhanced LAA    -   FN Frame Number    -   FPGA Field-Programmable Gate Array    -   FR Frequency Range    -   G-RNTI GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identity    -   GERAN GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network    -   GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node    -   GLONASS GLObal'naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (Engl.:        Global Navigation Satellite System)    -   gNB Next Generation NodeB    -   gNB-CU gNB-centralized unit, Next Generation NodeB centralized        unit    -   gNB-DU gNB-distributed unit, Next Generation NodeB distributed        unit    -   GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System    -   GPRS General Packet Radio Service    -   GSM Global System for Mobile Communications, Groupe Special        Mobile    -   GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol    -   GTP-U GPRS Tunneling Protocol for User Plane    -   GTS Go To Sleep Signal (related to WUS)    -   GUMMEI Globally Unique MME Identifier    -   GUTI Globally Unique Temporary UE Identity    -   HARQ Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request    -   HANDO, HO Handover    -   HFN HyperFrame Number    -   HHO Hard Handover    -   HLR Home Location Register    -   HN Home Network    -   HO Handover    -   HPLMN Home Public Land Mobile Network    -   HSDPA High Speed Downlink Packet Access    -   HSN Hopping Sequence Number    -   HSPA High Speed Packet Access    -   HSS Home Subscriber Server    -   HSUPA High Speed Uplink Packet Access    -   HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol    -   HTTPS Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (https is http/1.1        over SSL, i.e. port 443)    -   I-Block Information Block    -   ICCID Integrated Circuit Card Identification    -   ICIC Inter-Cell Interference Coordination    -   ID Identity, identifier    -   IDFT Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform    -   IE Information element    -   IBE In-Band Emission    -   IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers    -   IEI Information Element Identifier    -   IEIDL Information Element Identifier Data Length    -   IETF Internet Engineering Task Force    -   IF Infrastructure    -   IM Interference Measurement, Intermodulation, IP Multimedia    -   IMC IMS Credentials    -   IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity    -   IMGI International mobile group identity    -   IMPI IP Multimedia Private Identity    -   IMPU IP Multimedia PUblic identity    -   IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem    -   IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity    -   IoT Internet of Things    -   IP Internet Protocol    -   Ipsec IP Security, Internet Protocol Security    -   IP-CAN IP-Connectivity Access Network    -   IP-M IP Multicast    -   IPv4 Internet Protocol Version 4    -   IPv6 Internet Protocol Version 6    -   IR Infrared    -   IS In Sync    -   IRP Integration Reference Point    -   ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network    -   ISIM IM Services Identity Module    -   ISO International Organisation for Standardisation    -   ISP Internet Service Provider    -   IWF Interworking-Function    -   I-WLAN Interworking WLAN    -   K Constraint length of the convolutional code, USIM Individual        key    -   kB Kilobyte (1000 bytes)    -   kbps kilo-bits per second    -   Kc Ciphering key    -   Ki Individual subscriber authentication key    -   KPI Key Performance Indicator    -   KQI Key Quality Indicator    -   KSI Key Set Identifier    -   ksps kilo-symbols per second    -   KVM Kernel Virtual Machine    -   L1 Layer 1 (physical layer)    -   L1-RSRP Layer 1 reference signal received power    -   L2 Layer 2 (data link layer)    -   L3 Layer 3 (network layer)    -   LAA Licensed Assisted Access    -   LAN Local Area Network    -   LBT Listen Before Talk    -   LCM LifeCycle Management    -   LCR Low Chip Rate    -   LCS Location Services    -   LCID Logical Channel ID    -   LI Layer Indicator    -   LLC Logical Link Control, Low Layer Compatibility    -   LPLMN Local PLMN    -   LPP LTE Positioning Protocol    -   LSB Least Significant Bit    -   LTE Long Term Evolution    -   LWA LTE-WLAN aggregation    -   LWIP LTE/WLAN Radio Level Integration with IPsec Tunnel    -   LTE Long Term Evolution    -   M2M Machine-to-Machine    -   MAC Medium Access Control (protocol layering context)    -   MAC Message authentication code (security/encryption context)    -   MAC-A MAC used for authentication and key agreement (TSG T WG3        context)    -   MAC-I MAC used for data integrity of signalling messages (TSG T        WG3 context)    -   MANO Management and Orchestration    -   MBMS Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service    -   MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency        Network    -   MCC Mobile Country Code    -   MCG Master Cell Group    -   MCOT Maximum Channel Occupancy Time    -   MCS Modulation and coding scheme    -   MDAF Management Data Analytics Function    -   MDAS Management Data Analytics Service    -   MDT Minimization of Drive Tests    -   ME Mobile Equipment    -   MeNB master eNB    -   MER Message Error Ratio    -   MGL Measurement Gap Length    -   MGRP Measurement Gap Repetition Period    -   MIB Master Information Block, Management Information Base    -   MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output    -   MLC Mobile Location Centre    -   MM Mobility Management    -   MME Mobility Management Entity    -   MN Master Node    -   MO Measurement Object, Mobile Originated    -   MPBCH MTC Physical Broadcast CHannel    -   MPDCCH MTC Physical Downlink Control CHannel    -   MPDSCH MTC Physical Downlink Shared CHannel    -   MPRACH MTC Physical Random Access CHannel    -   MPUSCH MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel    -   MPLS MultiProtocol Label Switching    -   MS Mobile Station    -   MSB Most Significant Bit    -   MSC Mobile Switching Centre    -   MSI Minimum System Information, MCH Scheduling Information    -   MSID Mobile Station Identifier    -   MSIN Mobile Station Identification Number    -   MSISDN Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number    -   MT Mobile Terminated, Mobile Termination    -   MTC Machine-Type Communications    -   mMTC massive MTC, massive Machine-Type Communications    -   MU-MIMO Multi User MIMO    -   MWUS MTC wake-up signal, MTC WUS    -   NACK Negative Acknowledgement    -   NAI Network Access Identifier    -   NAS Non-Access Stratum, Non-Access Stratum layer    -   NCT Network Connectivity Topology    -   NEC Network Capability Exposure    -   NE-DC NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity    -   NEF Network Exposure Function    -   NF Network Function    -   NFP Network Forwarding Path    -   NFPD Network Forwarding Path Descriptor    -   NFV Network Functions Virtualization    -   NFVI NFV Infrastructure    -   NFVO NFV Orchestrator    -   NG Next Generation, Next Gen    -   NGEN-DC NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity    -   NM Network Manager    -   NMS Network Management System    -   N-PoP Network Point of Presence    -   NMIB, N-MIB Narrowband MIB    -   NPBCH Narrowband Physical Broadcast CHannel    -   NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control CHannel    -   NPDSCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared CHannel    -   NPRACH Narrowband Physical Random Access CHannel    -   NPUSCH Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared CHannel    -   NPSS Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal    -   NSSS Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal    -   NR New Radio, Neighbour Relation    -   NRF NF Repository Function    -   NRS Narrowband Reference Signal    -   NS Network Service    -   NSA Non-Standalone operation mode    -   NSD Network Service Descriptor    -   NSR Network Service Record    -   NSSAI ‘Network Slice Selection Assistance Information    -   S-NNSAI Single-NSSAI    -   NSSF Network Slice Selection Function    -   NW Network    -   NWUS Narrowband wake-up signal, Narrowband WUS    -   NZP Non-Zero Power    -   O&M Operation and Maintenance    -   ODU2 Optical channel Data Unit—type 2    -   OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing    -   OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access    -   OOB Out-of-band    -   OOS Out of Sync    -   OPEX OPerating EXpense    -   OSI Other System Information    -   OSS Operations Support System    -   OTA over-the-air    -   PAPR Peak-to-Average Power Ratio    -   PAR Peak to Average Ratio    -   PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel    -   PC Power Control, Personal Computer    -   PCC Primary Component Carrier, Primary CC    -   PCell Primary Cell    -   PCI Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identity    -   PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function    -   PCF Policy Control Function    -   PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function    -   PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence        Protocol layer    -   PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel    -   PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol    -   PDN Packet Data Network, Public Data Network    -   PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel    -   PDU Protocol Data Unit    -   PEI Permanent Equipment Identifiers    -   PFD Packet Flow Description    -   P-GW PDN Gateway    -   PHICH Physical hybrid-ARQ indicator channel    -   PHY Physical layer    -   PLMN Public Land Mobile Network    -   PIN Personal Identification Number    -   PM Performance Measurement    -   PMI Precoding Matrix Indicator    -   PNF Physical Network Function    -   PNFD Physical Network Function Descriptor    -   PNFR Physical Network Function Record    -   POC PTT over Cellular    -   PP, PTP Point-to-Point    -   PPP Point-to-Point Protocol    -   PRACH Physical RACH    -   PRB Physical resource block    -   PRG Physical resource block group    -   ProSe Proximity Services, Proximity-Based Service    -   PRS Positioning Reference Signal    -   PRR Packet Reception Radio    -   PS Packet Services    -   PSBCH Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel    -   PSDCH Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel    -   PSCCH Physical Sidelink Control Channel    -   PSSCH Physical Sidelink Shared Channel    -   PSCell Primary SCell    -   PSS Primary Synchronization Signal    -   PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network    -   PT-RS Phase-tracking reference signal    -   PTT Push-to-Talk    -   PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel    -   PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel    -   QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation    -   QCI QoS class of identifier    -   QCL Quasi co-location    -   QFI QoS Flow ID, QoS Flow Identifier    -   QoS Quality of Service    -   QPSK Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying    -   QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System    -   RA-RNTI Random Access RNTI    -   RAB Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst    -   RACH Random Access Channel    -   RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial In User Service    -   RAN Radio Access Network    -   RAND RANDom number (used for authentication)    -   RAR Random Access Response    -   RAT Radio Access Technology    -   RAU Routing Area Update    -   RB Resource block, Radio Bearer    -   RBG Resource block group    -   REG Resource Element Group    -   Rel Release    -   REQ REQuest    -   RF Radio Frequency    -   RI Rank Indicator    -   RIV Resource indicator value    -   RL Radio Link    -   RLC Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control layer    -   RLC AM RLC Acknowledged Mode    -   RLC UM RLC Unacknowledged Mode    -   RLF Radio Link Failure    -   RLM Radio Link Monitoring    -   RLM-RS Reference Signal for RLM    -   RM Registration Management    -   RMC Reference Measurement Channel    -   RMSI Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum System Information    -   RN Relay Node    -   RNC Radio Network Controller    -   RNL Radio Network Layer    -   RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier    -   ROHC RObust Header Compression    -   RRC Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control layer    -   RRM Radio Resource Management    -   RS Reference Signal    -   RSRP Reference Signal Received Power    -   RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality    -   RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator    -   RSU Road Side Unit    -   RSTD Reference Signal Time difference    -   RTP Real Time Protocol    -   RTS Ready-To-Send    -   RTT Round Trip Time    -   Rx Reception, Receiving, Receiver    -   S1AP S1 Application Protocol    -   S1-MME S1 for the control plane    -   S1-U S1 for the user plane    -   S-GW Serving Gateway    -   S-RNTI SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identity    -   S-TMSI SAE Temporary Mobile Station Identifier    -   SA Standalone operation mode    -   SAE System Architecture Evolution    -   SAP Service Access Point    -   SAPD Service Access Point Descriptor    -   SAPI Service Access Point Identifier    -   SCC Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC    -   SCell Secondary Cell    -   SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access    -   SCG Secondary Cell Group    -   SCM Security Context Management    -   SCS Subcarrier Spacing    -   SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol    -   SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol, Service Data Adaptation        Protocol layer    -   SDL Supplementary Downlink    -   SDNF Structured Data Storage Network Function    -   SDP Service Discovery Protocol (Bluetooth related)    -   SDSF Structured Data Storage Function    -   SDU Service Data Unit    -   SEAF Security Anchor Function    -   SeNB secondary eNB    -   SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy    -   SFI Slot format indication    -   SFTD Space-Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and frame timing        difference    -   SFN System Frame Number    -   SgNB Secondary gNB    -   SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node    -   S-GW Serving Gateway    -   SI System Information    -   SI-RNTI System Information RNTI    -   SIB System Information Block    -   SIM Subscriber Identity Module    -   SIP Session Initiated Protocol    -   SiP System in Package    -   SL Sidelink    -   SLA Service Level Agreement    -   SM Session Management    -   SMF Session Management Function    -   SMS Short Message Service    -   SMSF SMS Function    -   SMTC SSB-based Measurement Timing Configuration    -   SN Secondary Node, Sequence Number    -   SoC System on Chip    -   SON Self-Organizing Network    -   SpCell Special Cell    -   SP-CSI-RNTI Semi-Persistent CSI RNTI    -   SPS Semi-Persistent Scheduling    -   SQN Sequence number    -   SR Scheduling Request    -   SRB Signalling Radio Bearer    -   SRS Sounding Reference Signal    -   SS Synchronization Signal    -   SSB Synchronization Signal Block, SS/PBCH Block    -   SSBRI SS/PBCH Block Resource Indicator, Synchronization Signal        Block Resource Indicator    -   SSC Session and Service Continuity    -   SS-RSRP Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received        Power    -   SS-RSRQ Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received        Quality    -   SS-SINR Synchronization Signal based Signal to Noise and        Interference Ratio    -   SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal    -   SSSG Search Space Set Group    -   SSSIF Search Space Set Indicator    -   SST Slice/Service Types    -   SU-MIMO Single User MIMO    -   SUL Supplementary Uplink    -   TA Timing Advance, Tracking Area    -   TAC Tracking Area Code    -   TAG Timing Advance Group    -   TAU Tracking Area Update    -   TB Transport Block    -   TBS Transport Block Size    -   TBD To Be Defined    -   TCI Transmission Configuration Indicator    -   TCP Transmission Communication Protocol    -   TDD Time Division Duplex    -   TDM Time Division Multiplexing    -   TDMA Time Division Multiple Access    -   TE Terminal Equipment    -   TEID Tunnel End Point Identifier    -   TFT Traffic Flow Template    -   TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity    -   TNL Transport Network Layer    -   TPC Transmit Power Control    -   TPMI Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator    -   TR Technical Report    -   TRP, TRxP Transmission Reception Point    -   TRS Tracking Reference Signal    -   TRx Transceiver    -   TS Technical Specifications, Technical Standard    -   TTI Transmission Time Interval    -   Tx Transmission, Transmitting, Transmitter    -   U-RNTI UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity    -   UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter    -   UCI Uplink Control Information    -   UE User Equipment    -   UDM Unified Data Management    -   UDP User Datagram Protocol    -   UDSF Unstructured Data Storage Network Function    -   UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card    -   UL Uplink    -   UM Unacknowledged Mode    -   UML Unified Modelling Language    -   UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System    -   UP User Plane    -   UPF User Plane Function    -   URI Uniform Resource Identifier    -   URL Uniform Resource Locator    -   URLLC Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency    -   USB Universal Serial Bus    -   USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module    -   USS UE-specific search space    -   UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access    -   UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network    -   UwPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot    -   V2I Vehicle-to-Infrastruction    -   V2P Vehicle-to-Pedestrian    -   V2V Vehicle-to-Vehicle    -   V2X Vehicle-to-everything    -   VIM Virtualized Infrastructure Manager    -   VL Virtual Link,    -   VLAN Virtual LAN, Virtual Local Area Network    -   VM Virtual Machine    -   VNF Virtualized Network Function    -   VNFFG VNF Forwarding Graph    -   VNFFGD VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor    -   VNFM VNF Manager    -   VoIP Voice-over-IP, Voice-over-Internet Protocol    -   VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network    -   VPN Virtual Private Network    -   VRB Virtual Resource Block    -   WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access    -   WLAN Wireless Local Area Network    -   WMAN Wireless Metropolitan Area Network    -   WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network    -   X2-C X2-Control plane    -   X2-U X2-User plane    -   XML eXtensible Markup Language    -   XRES EXpected user RESponse    -   XOR eXclusive OR    -   ZC Zadoff-Chu    -   ZP Zero Power

Terminology

For the purposes of the present document, the following terms anddefinitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussedherein, but are not meant to be limiting.

The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includeshardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, aprocessor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared,dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC),a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array(FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), ahigh-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC),digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to providethe described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry mayexecute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at leastsome of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also referto a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination ofcircuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the programcode used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In theseembodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code maybe referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, orincludes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carryingout a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording,storing, and/or transferring digital data. The term “processorcircuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or morebaseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), asingle-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, aquad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing orotherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as programcode, software modules, and/or functional processes. The terms“application circuitry” and/or “baseband circuitry” may be consideredsynonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.”

The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, orincludes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between twoor more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may referto one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces,peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or thelike.

The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device withradio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user ofnetwork resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment”or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as,client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobileunit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station,access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurableradio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, theterm “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wireddevice or any computing device including a wireless communicationsinterface.

The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical orvirtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired orwireless communication network services. The term “network element” maybe considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer,networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch,hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway,server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like.

The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any typeinterconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or componentsthereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” mayrefer to various components of a computer that are communicativelycoupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or“system” may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiplecomputing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another andconfigured to share computing and/or networking resources.

The term “appliance,” “computer appliance,” or the like, as used hereinrefers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g.,software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide aspecific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machineimage to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizesor emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide aspecific computing resource.

The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtualdevice, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment,and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, suchas computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPUtime, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardwaretime or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports ornetwork sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage,storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or thelike. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/ornetwork resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A“virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or networkresources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application,device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communicationresource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computerdevices/systems via a communications network. The term “systemresources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services,and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources maybe considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects orservices, accessible through a server where such system resources resideon a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium,either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or adata stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and/or equivalentto “communications channel,” “data communications channel,”“transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,”“data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequencycarrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or mediumthrough which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” asused herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT forthe purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used hereinrefers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to aconcrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, duringexecution of program code.

The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivativesthereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or moreelements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another,may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other butstill cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one ormore other elements are coupled or connected between the elements thatare said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” maymean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another.The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elementsmay be in contact with one another by a means of communication includingthrough a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wirelesscommunication channel or ink, and/or the like.

The term “information element” refers to a structural element containingone or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of aninformation element, or a data element that contains content.

The term “SMTC” refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configurationconfigured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

The term “SSB” refers to an SS/PBCH block.

The term “a “Primary Cell” refers to the MCG cell, operating on theprimary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initialconnection establishment procedure or initiates the connectionre-establishment procedure.

The term “Primary SCG Cell” refers to the SCG cell in which the UEperforms random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Syncprocedure for DC operation.

The term “Secondary Cell” refers to a cell providing additional radioresources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA.

The term “Secondary Cell Group” refers to the subset of serving cellscomprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UEconfigured with DC.

The term “Serving Cell” refers to the primary cell for a UE inRRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one serving cellcomprising of the primary cell.

The term “serving cell” or “serving cells” refers to the set of cellscomprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE inRRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/.

The term “Special Cell” refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell ofthe SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term “Special Cell” refers tothe Pcell.

As described above, aspects of the present technology may include thegathering and use of data available from various sources, e.g., toimprove or enhance functionality. The present disclosure contemplatesthat in some instances, this gathered data may include personalinformation data that uniquely identifies or can be used to contact orlocate a specific person. Such personal information data can includedemographic data, location-based data, telephone numbers, emailaddresses, Twitter ID's, home addresses, data or records relating to auser's health or level of fitness (e.g., vital signs measurements,medication information, exercise information), date of birth, or anyother identifying or personal information. The present disclosurerecognizes that the use of such personal information data, in thepresent technology, may be used to the benefit of users.

The present disclosure contemplates that the entities responsible forthe collection, analysis, disclosure, transfer, storage, or other use ofsuch personal information data will comply with well-established privacypolicies and/or privacy practices. In particular, such entities shouldimplement and consistently use privacy policies and practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining personal information data private andsecure. Such policies should be easily accessible by users, and shouldbe updated as the collection and/or use of data changes. Personalinformation from users should be collected for legitimate and reasonableuses of the entity and not shared or sold outside of those legitimateuses. Further, such collection/sharing should only occur after receivingthe informed consent of the users. Additionally, such entities shouldconsider taking any needed steps for safeguarding and securing access tosuch personal information data and ensuring that others with access tothe personal information data adhere to their privacy policies andprocedures. Further, such entities can subject themselves to evaluationby third parties to certify their adherence to widely accepted privacypolicies and practices. In addition, policies and practices should beadapted for the particular types of personal information data beingcollected and/or accessed and adapted to applicable laws and standards,including jurisdiction-specific considerations. For instance, in the US,collection of, or access to, certain health data may be governed byfederal and/or state laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability andAccountability Act (HIPAA); whereas health data in other countries maybe subject to other regulations and policies and should be handledaccordingly. Hence different privacy practices should be maintained fordifferent personal data types in each country.

Despite the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplatesembodiments in which users selectively block the use of, or access to,personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplatesthat hardware and/or software elements can be provided to prevent orblock access to such personal information data. For example, the presenttechnology may be configurable to allow users to selectively “opt in” or“opt out” of participation in the collection of personal informationdata, e.g., during registration for services or anytime thereafter. Inaddition to providing “opt in” and “opt out” options, the presentdisclosure contemplates providing notifications relating to the accessor use of personal information. For instance, a user may be notifiedupon downloading an app that their personal information data will beaccessed and then reminded again just before personal information datais accessed by the app.

Moreover, it is the intent of the present disclosure that personalinformation data should be managed and handled in a way to minimizerisks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use. Risk can beminimized by limiting the collection of data and deleting data once itis no longer needed. In addition, and when applicable, including incertain health related applications, data de-identification can be usedto protect a user's privacy. De-identification may be facilitated, whenappropriate, by removing specific identifiers (e.g., date of birth,etc.), controlling the amount or specificity of data stored (e.g.,collecting location data a city level rather than at an address level),controlling how data is stored (e.g., aggregating data across users),and/or other methods.

Therefore, although the present disclosure may broadly cover use ofpersonal information data to implement one or more various disclosedembodiments, the present disclosure also contemplates that the variousembodiments can also be implemented without the need for accessing suchpersonal information data. That is, the various embodiments of thepresent technology are not rendered inoperable due to the lack of all ora portion of such personal information data.

1. A base station, comprising: radio front end circuitry; and processorcircuitry coupled to the radio front end circuitry and configured to:generate a slot format indicator (SFI) associated with a channeloccupancy time (COT) structure, wherein the SFI indicates whether one ormore slots associated with the COT structure are to be used for downlink(DL) symbols, uplink (UL) symbols, or flexible symbols, and wherein theflexible symbols form one or more gaps in the COT structure in responseto the flexible symbols not being overridden as a DL transmission or aUL transmission; and transmit, using the radio front end circuitry, theSFI to a user equipment (UE) to enable communication of the UL symbolsor the DL symbols between the base station and UE.
 2. The base stationof claim 1, wherein a duration of the one or more gaps is counted towarda duration of the COT structure in response to the duration of the oneor more gaps being less than or equal to a threshold.
 3. The basestation of claim 1, wherein a duration of the one or more gaps is notcounted toward a duration of the COT structure in response to theduration of the one or more gaps being greater than a threshold.
 4. Thebase station of claim 1, wherein one or more of the flexible symbolsthat are overridden as the DL transmission or the UL transmission arecounted toward a duration of the COT structure.
 5. The base station ofclaim 1, wherein the COT further includes one or more discovery signals(DRSs) within a DRS window.
 6. The base station of claim 1, wherein theCOT is defined on multiple subbands (SBs).
 7. The base station of claim6, wherein the COT comprises a plurality of switching points between theUL symbols to the DL symbols and the DL symbols to the UL symbols on themultiple SBs.
 8. The base station of claim 6, wherein the processorcircuitry is configured to perform listen before talk (LBT) operation oneach of the multiple SBs individually.
 9. The base station of claim 1,wherein the processor circuitry is configured to transmit, using theradio front end circuitry, the DL symbols to the UE based on the SFI.10. A method, comprising: generating, by a base station, a slot formatindicator (SFI) associated with a channel occupancy time (COT)structure, wherein the SFI indicates whether one or more slotsassociated with the COT structure are to be used for downlink (DL)symbols, uplink (UL) symbols, or flexible symbols, and wherein theflexible symbols form one or more gaps in the COT structure in responseto the flexible symbols not being overridden as a DL transmission or aUL transmission; and transmitting, by the base station, the SFI to auser equipment (UE) to enable communication of the UL symbols or the DLsymbols between the base station and UE.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein a duration of the one or more gaps is counted toward a durationof the COT structure in response to the duration of the one or more gapsbeing less than or equal to a threshold.
 12. The method of claim 10,wherein a duration of the one or more gaps is not counted toward aduration of the COT structure in response to the duration of the one ormore gaps being greater than a threshold.
 13. The method of claim 10,wherein one or more of the flexible symbols that are overridden as theDL transmission or the UL transmission are counted toward a duration ofthe COT structure.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the COT furtherincludes one or more discovery signals (DRSs) within a DRS window. 15.The method of claim 10, wherein the COT is defined on multiple subbands(SBs).
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the COT comprises a pluralityof switching points between the UL symbols to the DL symbols and the DLsymbols to the UL symbols on the multiple SBs.
 17. The method of claim15, further comprising: performing listen before talk (LBT) operation oneach of the multiple SBs individually.
 18. A base station, comprising: amemory configured to store program instructions; and a processor, uponexecuting the program instructions, configured to: generate a slotformat indicator (SFI) associated with a channel occupancy time (COT)structure, wherein the SFI indicates whether one or more slotsassociated with the COT structure are to be used for downlink (DL)symbols, uplink (UL) symbols, or flexible symbols, wherein the flexiblesymbols form one or more gaps in the COT structure in response to theflexible symbols not being overridden as DL transmission or ULtransmission, and wherein a duration of the one or more gaps is countedtoward a duration of the COT structure in response to the duration ofthe one or more gaps being less than or equal to a threshold and theduration of the one or more gaps is not counted toward the duration ofthe COT structure in response to the duration of the one or more gapsbeing greater than the threshold; and transmit the SFI to a userequipment (UE) to enable communication of the UL symbols or the DLsymbols between the base station and UE.
 19. The base station of claim18, wherein one or more of the flexible symbols that are overridden asthe DL transmission or the UL transmission are counted toward a durationof the COT structure.
 20. The base station of claim 18, wherein the COTfurther includes one or more discovery signals (DRSs) within a DRSwindow.